A Sirius Kind of Life
by Analie Prisca
Summary: Based on Pirates in Love characters and some of the storyline. Mara was far from being an ideal stowaway aboard the Sirius - her father was a Navy Commander and her ex-fiance was Navy Captain Leonardo. Follow her journey with the Sirius pirates, as she uncovers the truth behind her father's death. Which one of the Sirius pirates will steal her heart? Read'n'Review :)
1. Episode 1

**Episode 1**

She never thought that her legs could run as fast as they did. Fear and anxiety infused with adrenaline, coursing through her body at an alarming rate. She needed to get away from Moldor fast.

Although the sun was about to set, she still had to push past the aggregation of commoners that flocked in the marketplace. She heard a few people yell at her for being rude but she had no time to apologise, as much as she wanted to. She couldn't waste time – her life depended on it.

If she was caught, it would definitely be the end of her.

She held back tears as she wondered how things turned so sour so quickly. The events that occurred in the last forty eight hours were unbelievable. More importantly, she had lost her father. She pushed down that feeling of dreadfulness and grief which threatened to weaken her knees.

Her heart quickened with gladness as the salty smell of the sea overflow her senses. She hid behind a shed and scouted the ships that were anchored at the wharves. Some Navy officers were talking to a group of drunken sailors not far from where she was.

"Have you seen a woman around here?" An officer asked one of the men. The men drunkenly replied, "Nah, I have not seen any women around 'ere, officer. But if you find one, lemme know! I need a bedmate tonight!"

The rest of the men laughed as the Navy officers shook their heads in exasperation. One held up a photo and pointed at it, "This lass here has bounty on her head - Bring her alive to the Imperial Navy base and 10,000 gold coins shall be yours. Her name is Maureen. Spread the word."

She was a wanted woman! With a decent amount of bounty for the one that captured her first. Even so, she saw this coming.

But the sailors weren't listening anymore and they made their way into the port bar. It would be dangerous for her to show herself now. She needed to wait until the Navy officers left. Keeping an eye on the officers, she hid behind sheds and barrels towards the bar. As she stood up from behind a barrel, she lost her footing and tripped over, causing the barrel to topple over.

"Hey there's a woman here!"

She'd been found out by the Navy officers. Before she knew it, she was running again, this time the Navy officers hot on her trail.

She ran past sailors who were returning to their ships for the night. The last rays of the sun were slowly dissolving in an orange sky. Behind her, the Navy officers shouted at her and alerted everyone that they pass. "Ten thousand gold coins! Capture that woman!"

But She was running too fast before anyone could react to the beckon of the bounty reward. Then she saw a peculiar ship at the end of the harbor – she couldn't make out what the flag was but she spotted the entrance wide open with no one around. Her mind focused on that ship, she'd decided that it would be her escape transportation out of Moldor. She didn't care about what the crew members would be like - she'd have to deal with that later. Although she hoped that they wouldn't be as cruel as what the Navy would do to her if she was captured.

She didn't see where he came from, but a man suddenly came to be in her way that it made her crash into his back so hard, her lungs seized up for a moment. Her vision blurred as she fell on top of the man. She felt hard muscle under hear and heard a loud groan. Not willing to give her vision time to fully recover, she pushed herself to get up, seeing a flash of dark blonde hair and broad shoulders covered in a white shirt. She stood on a piece of black fabric by the man's head, a cloud of dirt covered him as he laid there groaning.

Pushing past a group of people who seemed to be the man's acquaintances, she saw that they were as surprised as the man she'd just knocked down. It all happened so fast.

A strange sense of familiarity filled her mind. Their appearance... Where had she seen them before?

" Stop that wom – Hey, they're the Sirius pirates!" a Navy officer yelled.

Those men… The Sirius pirates… An image of a series of wanted posters entered her mind. They were the Navy's most wanted pirates!

"Forget the girl, arrest those pirates!"

As she reached the end of the wharf, she looked up and saw the unmistakable flag of The Sirius. She had no choice but to go into a pirate ship or she would be captured.

She ran into the ship without looking back – knowing that there will be consequences for boarding The Sirius.

Meanwhile, the group of men Mara passed gathered around the man she fell into.

"Ugh, what in the hell was that?" Nathan groaned as he got up slowly. His clothes were dirty from being pushed into the ground so violently and when he tried to pick up his bandana which was equally filthy, he felt a strong jab of pain from his left shoulder.

"Nathan, are you okay?!" Russell was immediately by his side, picking up his bandana off the ground for him. Christopher immediately started prodding at his left shoulder, which earned a loud groan from Nathan.

Christopher took a closer look at Nathan's shoulder and looked at him worryingly, "I'm afraid your shoulder's inflamed."

"Some wench she was, knocking you down like that," Captain Morgan said with a look that was a cross between amusement and annoyance, "Almost as strong as a bull, if not more."

Thomas nodded his head in agreement. It was then that Eduardo noticed the Navy officers running towards them from a distance, their guns ready in hand.

"We've got to go… Now!" Eduardo took out his gun and pointed it at the Navy officers as the others get a move on.

Russell put Nathan's uninjured arm around his shoulders and helped him to run as the others followed. They could hear shots being fired at their direction as they make their way back to the Sirius.

"Run faster Nathan!" Eduardo yelled, firing shots back at the Navy officers, injuring a couple of them.

"I'm trying my best 'ere!" Nathan said with clenched teeth.

They spotted the entrance to The Sirius… and barely saw something – or someone – go inside.

"Was that – " Thomas started, pointing at The Sirius.

"Just keep running, we'll deal with her later!" Morgan interrupted, pushing Thomas to keep moving.

By the time they reached The Sirius, Eduardo has managed to wound the rest of the Navy officers that were chasing them.

"Let's weigh anchor and get the hell outta here before more of them come!" Morgan commanded.

"Aye aye!" Russell, Thomas and Eduardo went to their stations as Christopher took Nathan away to the ship's infirmary to be tended to.

They were gone from the port of Moldor in no time, no doubt that the bounty on their heads went up higher than what it already was.

The moon was beaming onto the deck of The Sirius as they set sail further into the vast ocean, where they could not be traced by the Navy.

"For now, we're safe from the Navy," Morgan spoke as Nathan, Russell, Thomas, Christopher and Eduardo watched him, "We need to find the stowaway wench that injured Nate's shoulder."

The gleam in Morgan's eyes was unmistakable as he grinned.

"But… What ever will we do with her once she's been found?"

**End of Episode 1**


	2. Episode 2

**Episode 2**

The waves crashed against the sides of the Sirius, rocking the ship like a tiny cradle in the vast ocean. The moonlight shone on the deck, giving the timber a lustrous shine. Not a single cloud could be seen – it was a beautiful night laced with the cool breeze of the gentle wind.

However, the crew wasn't celebrating the full moon tonight as per tradition. Captain Morgan has instead ordered for a sweep to be carried throughout the whole ship. It wasn't rodents they were looking for, but a woman.

Eduardo sighed as he stabilized the Sirius. He couldn't remember the last time they had a stowaway on the Sirius but the poor bastard would've ended up swimming back to shore. Or became shark food, more like it. He chuckled to himself at the thought and felt no remorse.

If the rest of the crew found that woman, he'd have a blast feeding her to the sharks too. Eduardo smirked as he warmed up to that thought, although he wondered if perhaps the woman would be good for other things before she was disposed of. The Sirius never had a woman on board, Captain made it a rule. Women were only allowed when they reach land and even then they weren't allowed to stay overnight.

"Captain! We found her!" Thomas' voice broke Eduardo's train of thoughts and he saw the two youngest crew members emerge on the deck, carrying the woman they had been looking for with her arms around their shoulders. "Christopher, she's bleeding!"

Eduardo joined Thomas and Russell as the other crew members gathered on the deck, crowding around them and the unconscious woman. There was a gash on her right brow bone, with blood dripping out of the wound just like Thomas said. The area around the wound was swelled up and her eye was bruised rather heavily.

"Please put her down," Christopher said. "Gently!" he added when Russell suddenly threw her arm off his shoulder. He gave the doctor an innocent look.

"That's quite a damage she's done to herself," Morgan chuckled as Thomas sat down on the floor and placed her head on his lap so that Christopher can tend to her.

"I found her like this underneath the shelves in the storage room. She must've been hiding there and hit her head a few times on the metal base when the ship jolted," Thomas said with a worried look on his face.

"That's her fault. What the hell was she thinking, running into our ship like that? We should just feed her to the sharks right now." Eduardo barked, causing Morgan to chuckle again.

Nathan, on the other hand, didn't look very pleased as he rubbed his injured shoulder. "That damn woman… I agree with Eduardo. Chuck her overboard."

"By the looks of this swelling, she won't be putting up a struggle if we do." Christopher said worryingly. "Russell, get me the herbal ointment and some bandages from the sick bay."

"Aye aye, doc!" Russell left to fetch the supplies, while Eduardo and Nathan slipped away as the others fussed over the wench.

When Russell came back, Christopher got to work on the woman straight away. Thomas kept her head still as the doctor bandaged her wounds. Morgan watched over them with a glass of alcohol in his hand.

Finally, her wounds were tended to properly and Christopher wiped his forehead with relief. "All done," he said to everyone.

"What should we do now, Captain?" Thomas asked, flinching as his legs were starting to feel like pins and needles. "We can't just leave her on the deck for the night, not like this."

Morgan seemed to be deep in thought as he considered what to do with the woman. She looked pitiful because of her wounds, but she also looked serene as the moonlight shone on the planes of her face. Wounds aside, she was definitely a looker. Besides, he wanted to know why she was running from the Navy – and why there was a bounty on her.

"I guess we have no choice but to take her inside – so she can recuperate in one of our rooms."

Thomas' face went red. "Wha- That's… I…" He stuttered.

Morgan laughed, "She doesn't have to stay in your room, Thomas."

"That's not - I mean to say… I don't.. It's just that…"

"You've never had a woman sleep with you before?" Christopher, who was usually the kind one, couldn't resist joining the Captain by teasing Thomas. He then patted Thomas' head, "Don't worry, neither has Russell."

"That's not true!" Russell exclaimed in defense. "We've had plenty of women before, haven't we Thomas? At least I have…" he continued.

"I guess the both of you aren't innocent young lads anymore," Morgan said with a grin. Thomas' face went redder while Russell grinned back at the captain.

"I keep saying this - We should just throw her overboard and get it done with." Eduardo appeared next to Russell and stared at the battered face of the unconscious woman still lying on Thomas' lap.

"Perhaps you'd like to watch over her in your room, Eduardo?" Christopher said as he stood up, earning a glare from Eduardo.

"You know where I stand with this wench," Eduardo said and walked off towards the cabins. "I'm going to bed now. _Alone_."

Morgan turned to Christopher, "What say you, Christopher?"

"I'm afraid I have to turn her down, I've got to do some tidying before my room can be used for the lady's recuperation," Christopher shook his head.

Morgan turned his head towards the kitchen. "Nath-"

"_No!"_ Nathan's voice yelled back before he could finish.

"Well, he's feeling rather bitter towards the lass. Fine, if no one else wants to give up their beds for this wench, then…" Morgan grinned at Thomas, "I'll leave her with you, Thomas."

Thomas looked flustered. Russell clapped him on the back and said, "Way to go Thomas!" before walking off towards his sleeping quarters with Christopher.

"Come on then lad, let's get this wench to your room," Morgan said, slowly lifting her up from Thomas' lap.

Thomas couldn't do anything else but agree as they hauled the woman carefully to his room. Morgan said they'd wait for her to wake up before deciding on what to do with her.

Maybe if she explained herself well enough, they would let her stay. It might be fun to have a woman around on board the Sirius. Then again, she might not even survive the sea, let alone deal with the other crew members who weren't used to a woman hanging around on the ship.

Thomas hoped that she wouldn't be shark food by the end of it all.

**End of Episode 2**


	3. Episode 3

**Episode 3**

Captain Morgan was sipping on a glass of ale, enjoying the late afternoon sun that shone through his cabin window when Russell barged into his room. "Captain, Thomas is in trouble!"

He immediately put his glass down and followed Russell onto the deck of the Sirius. There, he saw Thomas being held hostage with a knife on his throat – by none other than the stowaway. She had been unconscious for two days, but her wounds have started to heal although there was still a trace of bruising around her eye. She held the knife with such a grip that Thomas would definitely get hurt if he struggled. He was starting to really wonder why the Navy wanted her.

She was a rather fascinating creature – slightly taller than Thomas, taller than any woman they'd ever met. Yet her physical strength exuded through her lean frame, which was incredible to see. She pretty much tackled Nathan a couple of days ago and now she was holding Thomas captive.

Her strength reflected in her steely blue eyes. Her dark hair cascaded around her shoulders and down to her waist, the pieces near her face matted with blood and dirt.

She was an impressive sight and normally he would be amused at a situation like this if it wasn't one of his crew that she was trying to harm.

"Ca-Captain!" Thomas said, looking angry and frightened at the same time.

"You bitch! Let him go!" Russell drew his two swords and walked towards them. Morgan stopped him before the wench did something hasty in retaliation. Christopher was looking at Thomas and the wench with a worried look, while Nathan gripped his sickle as he eyed the wench.

On the corner of his eyes, Morgan saw Eduardo slowly inch towards the woman from behind. He drew his gun and slowly lifted it by the woman's head.

"I would let Thomas go if I were you."

She felt the cold barrel of the gun that the man with the eye patch pressed against her bruised temple. His voice was cold and she didn't doubt that he would shoot her if she didn't let the young man go.

She thought it over and released Thomas – she was at the mercy of these pirates and there was no way she could win against them. Captain Morgan, Eduardo, Nathan, Christopher, Russell and Thomas – they were the Sirius pirates. She'd seen their wanted posters all over Moldor and had become familiar with their faces, names… and crimes.

"Wise of you to do so." Eduardo knocked the knife out of her hand and grabbed her wrists with one hand from behind to keep her still. "Now, shall I blow your brains out or feed you to the sharks?"

She tried struggling to get away but he pressed the barrel of his gun harder into her temple, causing her to flinch. Then, her chin was lifted up to meet Morgan's gaze. The rest of the crew came closer except for Thomas who was eyeing her wearily from behind Christopher.

"Tell me my dear, what's a pretty young thing like you doing in a pirate ship like ours? And more importantly, why is the Navy after you?" Morgan asked, raising his eyebrow. She glared at him with defiance, not saying a word. "Tell us, or Eduardo gets to choose how we dispose of you."

When she still didn't comply, he said to her sternly, "Or… we'll sail back to Mordor and dump you there for the Navy to deal with."

She was adamant not to answer and looked away instead.

"Do with her as you please." Morgan said to Eduardo, who then cocked his gun.

"I- I was kidnapped in my hometown, Yamato. Then I was sold to an aristocrat in Moldor." She bit the inside of her cheek as she told them a lie, "I escaped and was reported to the Navy. That's why they're after me."

She looked up and couldn't read the expressions of the men in front of her.

"I just need to get away until the aristocrat forgets about me," she continued, "I planned to go back home to Yamato eventually. I- I didn't realise that I was on board of the Sirius!"

"So you knew who we were from the start, yet you have the guts to pull a knife on Thomas?" Nathan pointed at Thomas, who looked at her with anguish.

She returned his gaze and said, "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done what I did. It's just that I didn't know how long I was out for and I… I forgot who I'm dealing with."

"Damn right you did!" Eduardo tightened his grip on her wrists.

"We should let her go, Captain." Christopher put a hand on Morgan's shoulder, "She was just being defensive because of her injury and who wouldn't be – Waking up in a strange place surrounded by people you've never met before."

"I agree Captain," Thomas said bravely, "I wasn't hurt or anything, so just let her go."

Morgan shrugged and ordered for Eduardo to release her.

"We're forgetting rule number two, mateys. Never harm a woman or a child." Then he chuckled. "Besides I think we've scared her enough."

She rubbed her wrists as soon as Eduardo let go of her. Christopher was immediately by her side, checking her wrists too as well as the bruising on her face.

"Sorry about all that, we're really not that bad," Christopher shot her an apologetic look.

"You're making us look bad as pirates, doc." Nathan grumbled while Eduardo nodded in agreement.

She glared at them and said, "I'll get off on the next port you land on. I'll be out of your way until then, you won't even know I'm here."

"Um… Looks like you're out of luck if that's your plan, Miss," Thomas chirped, "We'll be sailing for a while."

"What? Why?" She shot him a questioning look.

"What do you mean why?" Morgan laughed.

"We're pirates, what do you expect?" Russell shot her a look of disbelief as if to say how stupid she sounded.

"Enough of this, I'm going to prepare dinner." Nathan left for the kitchen. It seemed like he was over the situation. Eduardo followed his lead and went back to steer the ship.

"I'm going to finish the rest of my drink in my room. Russell, go help Nathan and let us know when dinner is ready. Thomas, you can keep an eye on the woman until dinner," Morgan said, heading back into his room.

"Aye aye Captain!" Russell went off and followed Nathan.

"Try to get along, okay?" Christopher winked at her and Thomas as he walked off to go to his room too.

She stood on the deck, wondering what to do now that she was left alone with the young man she held hostage just a moment ago.

"My name is Thomas, just in case you didn't catch it." She turned to him at the sound of his voice. He held out his hand with a cheery smile. "Let's start again, shall we? What's your name?"

She found herself shaking his hand, forgetting that she was on board of the Sirius. The horrible associations with these pirates escaped her mind for that moment.

"My name is Maureen," she said, forcing a weak smile, " But you can call me Mara."

**End of Episode 3**


	4. Episode 4

**Episode 4**

The night's festivities on board the Sirius were filled with the delicious smell of the food Nathan cooked and the tangy smell of the wine the crew was drinking. Mara was seated next to Thomas, eating her food quietly. They were seated further away from where the others were but she felt that she was constantly being watched. They didn't tie her wrists or anything; they even gave her food, but that doesn't mean they trusted her. Captain Morgan did assign Thomas to keep an eye on her – although she wondered why considering she could've probably killed him if she wanted to. Not that she would. She'd never killed anyone and never will.

She'd always thought pirates were vicious and merciless – she believed Eduardo when he said he wanted to chuck her overboard. Even so, some of the crew members like Christopher, Thomas and even Captain Morgan were surprisingly not as menacing as she thought they would be.

Mara turned and looked at Thomas. She felt really bad for pulling a knife on him. He seemed to be the most harmless out of them all. He looked rather young compared to the rest of them, although they all seem like they wouldn't be more than ten years older than she was.

Thomas noticed that she was looking at her and gave her a smile, "Did you want more food, Miss Mara? Nathan makes the best food!"

"No thank you," she shook her head. "Look Thomas – I'm really sorry about before. I feel really bad about-"

"Mara? Is that your name, lass?" Morgan sat down on her other side and rested his elbow on her shoulder. "Don't worry about Thomas, he might be our youngest and only an apprentice, but he's a tough guy. Aren't you, Thomas?"

Thomas nodded and grinned at them. "Sure am! Don't worry about it Miss. I'll try my best not to let you bully me!"

Mara looked away in embarrassment. He called her a bully! Never in her life had she been that violent with anyone. But she couldn't trust them just yet either, so she wasn't about to let her guard down.

"You better toughen up some more then, Thomas. If you get beaten by a woman, that'll ruin your reputation as a pirate forever." Russell had come over and patted Thomas on the head, giving him more food on his plate.

"Hmph, it's not like you haven't dropped a sword or two before, Russ." Thomas grumbled to himself, Russell's words obviously hit a sore spot that he didn't have before.

Morgan laughed as Thomas and Russell proceeded to settle things by arm wrestling each other. Even Mara couldn't help but to giggle at their competitiveness.

She realised that that was the first time she had laughed since hearing the news that her father had passed away. The whole thing felt like a dream. She looked up at the sky and felt her eyes sting from her train of thoughts.

"So woman, when do you plan to tell us the truth?" Morgan said quietly, taking a sip of his drink.

Mara looked at him with surprise.

"You don't think we believed your weak story, did ye?" He grinned at her. The others suddenly went quiet to listen to their conversation

While Mara kept silent, he continued, "For starters, you weren't kidnapped from your hometown, were you? Or at least you weren't a slave. Look at what you're wearing – as tattered as your dress is, it used to be of high quality. You also have a ring, which means ye got a man waiting for you."

She closed her eyes. What should she do? She was found out. Although they were letting her stay on board the Sirius for now, they might actually throw her overboard if she kept lying to them.

"And… you've got this." She jolted out of her seat when Morgan touched her neck to move her hair out of the way.

"She's got the Imperial branding!" Russell exclaimed, drawing his swords out as soon as he saw a glimpse of a well known small tattoo on her neck, below her ear. Nathan and Eduardo followed suit with their weapons while Christopher and Thomas looked at her wearily. What little trust she was starting to build with those two were probably gone now.

Morgan also stood up and motioned for his crew to stand down. They lowered their weapons, but had their defensive stance on.

"Now Mara of Moldor – explain yourself."

Mara felt all eyes were on her as she was put on the spotlight. The pirates of Sirius were a sharp bunch – there was no fooling them. She cursed herself for being so careless with her story. Even if they don't throw her overboard for having Imperial blood, they might hand her over to the Navy at the next port and they will probably lock her in a room with arms and legs tied up for the entire journey there. She really had nothing to lose by telling them the truth and hoped that they would have some sort of compassion in their bones.

"You're right. I wasn't kidnapped or sold as a slave… I was born to an Imperial Navy Commander and a barmaid from Yamato."

"You've got… Imperial blood?" Eduardo asked. She couldn't read the expression in his face but his uncovered eye showed interest in what she said. She prayed that they believed the truth.

"Yes. But I spent most of my childhood in Moldor with my father after my mother passed away when I was five," she answered.

"But that doesn't explain why the Navy was after you," Nathan's face on the other hand, was sceptical. She couldn't blame him – he was the one she crashed into and injured so why should he give her benefit of the doubt?

She understood this, but having to tell them about what happened to her father and to her made her chest hurt.

"M-my father… He- They said he took his own life… I was in Yamato visiting some relatives when they arrested me." Mara looked like was light headed, so Captain Morgan held her arm for support.

She took a deep, shaky breath. "They took me back to Moldor for a trial, having found evidence that pointed at my father for leaking confidential Navy information to pirate captain Cecil, who used to be an ex Navy commander, and they concluded that he took away his own life when Navy officials found out about it."

"Cecil, eh?" Morgan mumbled to himself.

"They found some letters addressed to Cecil from my father in my room and that's why they arrested me. I was meant to hang in the town centre, but I managed to escape… And ran into this ship."

"No wonder the bounty on your head is so high for a woman." Christopher commented, rubbing his chin in thought.

Mara clenched her fists on her sides as she held back tears. She didn't think her father would betray the Navy like that, let alone take his own life. That wasn't the father she knew, but then again, she probably didn't know him at all. She really didn't know what to believe, except that she didn't know what happened until she was unjustly arrested for her father's crimes.

"You don't think your father did that, do you?" Thomas offered, giving her a sad look.

"And where does your man fit into all this?" Morgan asked when she didn't reply.

"What- Oh…" She automatically reached for the gold band on her ring finger. Her chest exploded with pain. It reminded her of the one thing that was almost worse than her father's death and possible treachery.

"I was engaged to a Navy Captain before all that happened," she said with a pained look, "But he turned his back on me."

"Who was he?" Morgan asked carefully.

She kept silent, but they waited for her to answer. They would know who her fiancé – ex fiancé – was. After all, pirates and the Navy have been conflicting for several centuries.

She took another deep breath.

"My fiancé was... Leonardo."

"The merciless Captain Leonardo, enemy of all pirates?!" Russell exclaimed, choking a litte.

Mara nodded weakly and avoided looking at their faces by staring at the floor. She took off the ring Leonardo gave her and dropped it on the ground.

The pirates of Sirius looked at this woman and had the same thought in their mind: the last few days were more interesting with the arrival of this woman who was half Imperial by descent, with a merciless Navy Captain who was her fiancé, and a traitorous father who took his own life.

**End of Episode 4**


	5. Episode 5

**Episode 5**

Despite what Mara told the Sirius pirates about herself, Captain Morgan still allowed her to be on board. However, he did say that he would consider her request to be dropped off at the next port. She didn't know whether he would agree to that or if he would order Eduardo or Nathan to get rid of her instead. Whatever the Captain says will be followed. So her life really depended on his decision now.

Nevertheless, his decision for the night was to make Thomas continue to keep an eye on her until morning. She was to sleep - under watch – in Thomas' room. She didn't know what Thomas thought of what she had said earlier.

"This way to the room, Miss Mara," Thomas said quietly, leading her below deck where the sleeping quarters were. Mara didn't know what to say as he was ordered into taking her with him for the night. He opened the door and she followed him into a minimalistic room with very little personal belongings.

There was a small chest in one corner of the room, a few pieces of clothing thrown on top of a small dresser, a lamp without a shade on top of a bedside table… and a single bed barely big enough for one person.

Thankfully, Thomas took out some blankets from under the bed and laid them on the floor next to his tiny bed. He didn't utter a single word while he made a makeshift bed on the cold wooden floor.

"Um… I'll sleep on the floor," Mara said, touching his shoulder gently. He turned and gave her a funny look, "Don't be silly Miss Mara. You're still recovering from your injury and you won't be comfortable on the floor. Besides, you might catch a cold!"

She looked away, wondering why he was so kind to her after what she had done to him. What's more, he knew that her father was a Navy Commander and her ex-fiance was a Navy Captain. He knew all that, yet he was still being kind.

"I believe you." Thomas said after a long silence.

She looked up at him with a surprised look. "But-"

"Don't worry about that anymore. I'll train hard so that I won't be beaten by a woman next time!" His grin was wiped off his face when she didn't smile, "What's wrong? I'm sorry-"

"No, I should be the one who is sorry… I shouldn't have-"

"You've said sorry already and I've accepted it. I don't think you're the type to harm another person unless you or the people you care about are threatened."

She gasped when Thomas suddenly hugged her. His face was slightly red when he pulled away.

"I hope you stop worrying if we'll harm you," he patted my shoulder, clearing his throat to shake off his embarrassment. "I'm sure Captain will let you stay. He wouldn't trust you with me otherwise."

"What were you two doing?" A voice came from the door. Neither Mara nor Thomas heard the door open.

"Ru- Russell!" Thomas gasped, his face going red again. "You heard that?"

"I not only heard, I saw too!" Russell crossed his arms and gave them both a pointed look. He saw that Mara had a blank look on her face.

"I believe you too… Mara," he said, clearing his throat.

Her gaze locked with his as he walked towards them.

"You're a tough cookie. But I don't think you're a bad person. Even if you're connected to the Navy and such," Russell continued, searching her face for a reaction. He realised he had gone way too close to her and backed away with a red face that matched Thomas'.

"T- Thanks you two. But I understand it's in your nature to hate anyone to do with the Navy, I mean… The others might…" she sighed, "They might think you're betraying them by believing me. And I can't ask you to give your trust so easily to a stranger either."

Thomas and Russell looked at each other and chuckled.

"Miss Mara, just because we're pirates doesn't mean we're prejudice against other people. If you give us a chance, we're not so bad y'know!" Thomas said, patting her on the shoulder.

"Yea, even though Eduardo and Nathan sound scary, they're actually good guys! The doc is always kind… And Captain is the most compassionate man you'll ever meet!" Russell grinned at her, giving her a thumb's up.

Somehow, hearing Thomas and Russell's words cheered Mara up considerably. Russell yawned and ran his fingers through his golden hair. "I better get back to my room and go to sleep now. I just came here because I wanted to say what I've said… And that I'm looking forward to having you as part of the crew, Mara."

The door clicked shut behind him. Mara stared at the door in awe. Part… of the crew? She just wanted to be dropped off the next time the Sirius docks, but the sound of that appealed to her.

"Russell's right, Miss Mara. It would be awesome if you became a part of the crew," Thomas said, half yawning as he got into his makeshift bed. "I've always wanted a big sister… You can even teach me a thing or two…"

Mara was about to reply but he was already dozing off.

A big sister? Part of the Sirius crew?

She wondered what it would feel like being in those two roles as she carefully stepped over Thomas and into the bed he'd given up for her.

That is, if the rest of the crew – especially Captain Morgan would allow it.

"How does it look, doc?"

"Looks so much better now than it did a few days ago. She won't have a scar from the wound."

Mara slowly opened her eyes to the sound of the voices above her. She saw Christopher and Thomas' face hovering over hers and blinked a few times to wake herself up.

"Good morning, Miss Mara," Thomas said cheerfully, "How are you feeling today?"

She sat up slowly. "I- Uh… I feel better."

The two men suddenly averted their eyes. She looked down at her chest and saw why. She had dressed down to her pantaloons and thin camisole for bed and although the satin material was opaque, it clung to her chest.

"Oh crap," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest to fix that problem. She didn't really care about that kind of stuff. She grew up with the men of the Navy and they were so used to seeing a woman's body that they don't bother looking at hers – not that she ever gave them a chance to see anyway. Last night however, she was so tired that she just went straight into bed.

Christopher smiled with amusement while Thomas focused his attention to an invisible spider on the corner of the ceiling.

"Come to the deck for breakfast when you're ready. Nathan's preparing the food now. I'll give you some more ointment for your bruises," Christopher patted her knee over the blanket and walked towards the door, "Thomas, give her some of your old clothes if the lady doesn't mind second hand."

Thomas forced himself to look at her as if to ask if she would mind his hand-me-downs. "I don't mind at all," Mara grinned at him and added, "Why are you embarrassed so much? I thought Russell said you both had experience with women, so you must've seen a woman's body before."

Thomas' face was as red as a tomato at Mara's recollection of the conversation the guys had while she was supposed to be unconscious. He stayed silent and busied himself to find clothes in the wooden chest.

He pulled out a pair of breeches and a white blouse that was too small for him now, handed it to her and mumbled something along the lines of 'I'll go up to the deck while you change', before running off towards the door.

Mara chuckled to herself as she got out of the bed. She proceeded to put on the clothes Thomas gave her, putting on the corset and a couple of other things from her original outfit on to make it her own.

Pulling on her boots, she was finally ready to meet with everyone on the deck.

Taking a deep breath as she walked up the stairs to the deck, she wondered if Morgan has made his decision yet.

**End of Episode 5**


	6. Episode 6

**Episode 6**

Mara's father used to tell her stories about the seas, and the monsters that inhibited them. As a child, she loved hearing the tales he told about them. After losing her mother, those stories made her feel closer to her father and deepened her love of the ocean. She'd always thought that her father wasn't just fighting pirates on his journey; he was also fighting these monsters.

However, never in a million years did she expect to see a sea monster for herself.

They were all eating breakfast on the deck – Mara was waiting nervously to see if Morgan would make his verdict – when a giant tentacle rose up from the sea and slapped down onto the width of the deck. Slimy sea water splashed from the tentacle and soaked the six men and Mara. Luckily their reflexes were good enough to dodge the massive tentacle, although Mara had to be pulled away from the sudden impact by Captain Morgan.

"Holy hell!" Russell exclaimed.

"Not the Kraken again!" Thomas groaned, wiping slime that smelt strongly like fish guts off his face.

Eduardo started shooting at the tentacle as it retreated back into the sea. But it wasn't long until three more tentacles rose up from the sides of the Sirius, slamming onto the deck of the ship again. The shock of the impact sent barrels rolling at all directions.

"Woman, look out!" Nathan yelled at Mara, his warning processed in her brain a second too late as she got knocked over by a water barrel and smashed onto the side of the deck.

"Mara, are you okay?!" Thomas came running and got the barrel off her. She managed to stand up with Thomas and Morgan's help, but felt pain on her tailbone and abdomen where the barrel hit her body.

By then, all eight of the Kraken's tentacles were wrapping around the Sirius as Eduardo, Nathan, Captain Morgan, Christopher and Russell attacked them with all their might.

Thomas took out his wooden sword and started hitting the tentacle nearest to where he and Mara stood, keeping her behind him as she tried to regain her composure.

Suddenly, a tentacle grabbed Morgan from behind and his sword fell out of his hand as it started to lift him up and sway him above the Sirius. Seeing where his sword landed, Mara saw an opening and ran to grab it, dodging the monster's other arms on the way. Nathan and Russell covered her as they stabbed the other tentacles on her way.

She grabbed the slimy handle of the sword and stabbed the tentacle that held Morgan. It didn't drop him, but instead slammed against one of the masts.

"Here comes the head of the beast!" Eduardo yelled, warning everyone as a spray of sea water covered the deck. The Kraken's giant head slowly towered over the Sirius, casting a dark shadow onto the deck.

"Someone stab the damn thing already!" Captain Morgan bellowed from above them.

Mara had never seen sea monsters before, but one thing that she learnt from her father's stories was that she wasn't afraid of them. She'd forgotten about the pain in her body and made a dash for the Kraken's head before any of the others did.

With an incredible speed, she leaped up off the railings and drove the sword into the Kraken's eye. But she wasn't able to pull out the sword as easily as she drove it in as the monster let go of Morgan and grabbed a hold of her instead.

"Mara, let it go!" Thomas yelled below her. "It'll crush you if you don't! Let go!"

The monster was pulling at her as she tried pulling the sword out. The tentacle wrapped around her waist felt like it was crushing her insides – it probably was. But she couldn't just let go of the Morgan's sword.

Planting one foot on the monster's slimy skin, she kicked and managed to pull the sword out with one swift movement – but with consequence as she was thrown backwards.

Thomas' voice calling out her name was the last thing she heard as she flew across the deck.

She felt the sword slip out of her hands as her vision blurred.

The next day, Mara sat up on Thomas' bed, finding herself surrounded by the Sirius pirates. They were all looking at her, no doubt eyeing all her bruises and scratches from the Kraken fight. She'd only just woken up, feeling like she'd missed a whole year of her life.

Captain Morgan crossed his arms and grinned at her, "You were real brave out there, kid."

"You were so awesome, Miss Mara! The way you grabbed Captain's sword and just-" Thomas began.

"-kicked that thing's ass!" Russell finished. The two youngest members of the Sirius looked at her like she was some kind of hero.

"I suppose you did okay…" Eduardo said and smirked, "For a woman."

"Okay? She did great!" Captain Morgan slapped him on the back, hard. Eduardo didn't look so impressed anymore.

"You took so much beating for it though…" Christopher gave her a worried smile.

"She's only a weak woman after all," behind him, Nathan nodded in silent agreement, but not in the same kind way Christopher meant it to be.

She was overwhelmed by their reaction. She never thought of herself as brave. She was definitely reckless and didn't know what she was doing until she did it and she made sure they knew that.

"Sure, you were reckless as the devil himself, but you did a good job saving me and the others." Morgan said, rubbing his chin. "I think you've earned yourself a place in the Sirius."

She looked up at him with surprise.

"What?!" Eduardo and Nathan said in unison.

"Captain's orders." Christopher told Eduardo and Nathan.

"D-Does that mean I can stay on board?" Mara said nervously.

"Of course you can, lass! Don't be silly. Ye can stay with us as long as you want to…" Captain said. Thomas and Russell gave each other a high five and grinned like madmen.

"…Or we can drop you off at the next port as you wished."

Their faces fell at the Captain's next words. "But Captain-"

"It's really up to the lady." Christopher reminded them gently.

Eduardo glared at her while Nathan seemed deep in thought. Mara knew that they weren't happy with the Captain's decision. But she had a feeling that they might warm up to the idea of having her around sooner or later. She thought about how much she would miss Thomas – and even Russell if she was dropped off at the next port they landed on. Christopher kept looking after her injuries with exceptional care and the Captain seemed like what Russell said – a compassionate man.

She didn't know what life on the Sirius would be like with them but she was warming up to the idea. Besides, she didn't have anywhere else to go now that she has become public enemy number one for the Navy, just like these guys were. She also had no home to go back to now.

"I'll stay," she said slowly, "But only if everyone's okay with it." She dared to glance at the two people in the room that would have objections.

Before Eduardo and Nathan could protest, Thomas said, "Of course we are! If the Captain says it's okay, then it must be!"

"That's settled then. Tonight we welcome the newest member of the Sirius! A fine reason to drink and be merry! Bring out our best alcohol, Nathan!" Captain let out a hearty laughter as he steered Nathan and Eduardo out of the room.

"Congratulations, Mara." Christopher smiled at her before following the three men.

"I wanted to help Eduardo throw you overboard when you first came, since you were uninvited and even injured Nathan." Russell grinned, "But now, I'm glad that you're staying with us!"

"Gee, thanks Russell." Mara said sarcastically, but couldn't help smiling back at him.

"Yay! I'm looking forward to our adventures together with you, Miss Mara!" Thomas said, giving her a side hug.

She found herself hugging him back and stroked his hair. "Me- Me too…"

Mara put behind thoughts around what happened with her father and Leonardo, as well as Eduardo and Nathan's cold shoulders. For now, she was basking in the happiness of being a part of something new and exciting – something that she hasn't experienced since she last sailed with her father.

Except this time, she wasn't on board of a Navy ship. She was on the Sirius – and she imagined that her life was about to get a whole lot more exciting.

**End of Episode 6**


	7. Episode 7

I figured I better start writing Author's Notes now... Considering those of you who have followed and liked my story have been absolutely wonderful! Thank you very much to those who has also done a review or two :) You guys made me happy. Keep reading for more adventures with Mara and the Sirius crew - I have plenty more brewing in my brain. As for who Mara will fall for? It's a secret... for now.

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**Episode 7**

After enduring a few days of harsh conditions due to a storm, the Sirius pirates were finally able to enjoy clear skies and a calm ocean. Mara had proved herself to be useful around the ship, using her sailing knowledge taught by her father to aid mostly everyone there, with Thomas's help. He and Russell have been showing her the ropes of how things were run on the Sirius. Slowly, she was letting her guard down and enjoying her new life on board.

Looking at the Orion, she tried connecting the stars in her head. She saw the bow and arrow, but could not concentrate enough to re-create everything else in her mind. On a quiet night like this, her mind wandered into the memories she tried locking away since she was accepted as part of the Sirius pirates. She refused to talk about her past and the people she used to be associated with. She avoided questions about them and focused her energy on doing various chores around the ship. Thomas and Russell knew that she didn't want to talk about it, so they left it at that.

But it was getting late into the night and everyone was in their rooms, except for Eduardo who was still up cleaning a corner of the deck due to insomnia.

She hasn't really spoken to him much. In fact, he and Nathan tried their best to only talk to her when they needed her to do something for them, like fetch ropes or peel potatoes. The rest of the time, they avoided her.

Not that she minded – they seemed like they weren't as friendly as the other pirates. She suspected that they were still protesting about having a woman on board – officially as part of the crew now – behind her back to Captain.

She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself at the chilly breeze.

"You're going to catch a cold if you keep going on like that."

She turned around and saw Eduardo, who held up something small that caught the light from the moon. It was her engagement ring that she threw away a few nights ago!

"Here," he offered it to her, but she shook her head. She stared at the distance and saw him frown from the corner of her eyes.

"What do you expect me to do with this thing?" he asked her with a patronising voice.

"I don't know," she wasn't in the mood for this so her tone was sarcastic as she said, "Give it to the next woman you sleep with or something."

"You must be kidding me," he took one of her hand, which earned him a glare and pushed the gold band onto her palm. Then she sighed and stared at the ring that was given to her by the person she used to love – and whom she now lost her faith in.

"You still love him?" Eduardo asked quietly, watching her profile. There was a look of sadness in her eyes, framed by bruises and cuts that were slowly healing. He thought she was going to shed tears from his question but she surprised him by shaking her head and looking into his eyes as she said a firm, "No."

"I can't forgive him for not trusting me," she continued, staring squarely at him, "E-even if my father was a crook, he should've-"

"Why should he believe you?"

She seemed surprised at his next question, "Because… Because if you love a person, you'd think they'd put all their trust in you."

"But what if the person you trust so much betrays you?"

Mara felt a stab of pain as Eduardo's words pierced her heart. What he meant, she was sure of it, was that even though she loved and trusted her father, it might just be true that he betrayed her and the Navy. More importantly, if he did take his own life, that act alone was a betrayal to her.

Her fists clenched by her sides, the gold band that reminded her of Leonardo dug on the skin of her palm. She was getting light headed thinking about betrayals of the people she thought she knew.

Suddenly, the ring slipped out of her hand and slid through the gap in between the railings. Before she knew it, Eduardo jumped overboard with a loud splash.

Seconds later, before she was able to comprehend the situation clearly, Nathan showed up next to her and peered over the railings to see Eduardo swimming by the Sirius' side.

"Get some rope, quick!" Nathan ordered, snapping her back to reality. She grabbed a rope on top of the closest barrel she found and threw it at Nathan, who tied one end to the railings and chucked the other end down to Eduardo.

"Grab on, Eduardo!" Nathan yelled at Eduardo below, who was swimming as hard as he could to keep up with the Sirius. Mara watched in shock as Eduardo's grip slipped the first few times he tried.

Finally, he was climbing up the rope and Nathan helped him to get back on board when he reached the top. He was soaking wet as he set foot on the deck, panting and shivering slightly as the cold wind hit him.

"I'll get you some towels to dry yourself off, wait here." Nathan proceeded to run below deck.

Mara crouched down next to Eduardo, who was also crouched as he caught his breath. She touched his shoulder, not knowing what else to say or do.

"Here, take this and don't let go of it or something silly like that again," he said, handing her over the ring that slipped out of her hand. He must've caught it just as it fell and lost his footing while doing so.

She was baffled as to why he would do such a thing. He saw her expression and explained, "My father betrayed me and my mother a long time ago… But the only difference between you and me is that I really believed he was a selfish prick who wronged us for his own benefit. You on the other hand… You _know_ for a fact that your father wasn't a traitor."

Eduardo slowly stood up as Nathan came back to hand him a large, fluffy towel. He wrapped it around his shoulder and walked off before saying, "You know it in your bones, don't you understand?"

Then he left, leaving Mara standing there holding the ring tightly, while Nathan stared at Eduardo's retreating figure and back to her in confusion.

"What the hell happened?" He asked, as she thought over what Eduardo had just said to her.

"On second thought, cross that – I don't want to know," he crossed his arms and shook his head disapprovingly. He then continued, "Tomorrow we land on Dahlia Island to fix the ship from the Kraken and storm damage. Since you're going to stay on board from now on, you better pull your weight. Don't think you'll be let off easy just because you're a woman."

Mara looked at him and nodded. She never expected to be treated like a princess. She knew that there was so much she needed to learn and so many things around the Sirius that needed to be done everyday. She was prepared to do them and earn her place. Eduardo was right, despite everything, she was still her father's daughter and nothing would change that. She chose to keep the happy memories she had with him and continue to live in his name, even if she couldn't prove his innocence just yet. But one day she will and that was when Leonardo and the rest of the Navy will eat their words.

"You better go to bed. Everyone will be expecting you to wake up real early to help out." Nathan strolled off towards the cabins and looked back when she didn't follow, "Are you coming?"

Mara met his eyes and said with determination, "You bet I am." She slipped the gold band into her pocket, and then followed Nathan below deck to get a good night's sleep. She couldn't wait for tomorrow to begin.

**End of Episode 7**


	8. Episode 8

**A/N: **Thank you again for you lovelies who read and reviewed! Hope you're satisfied with the story so far! Please recommend it to those who love the PiL game too :) I'll be uploading new chapters as often as I can this week as I have a new job starting the week after, so I won't be able to update as often then. But I'll definitely still spend some time working on this story so don't fret. I'll try update every 4-5 days. Much love x

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**Episode 8**

They landed at Dahlia Island very early in the morning. There was still fog floating around the port, but the air was crisp and cleared the airways when breathed in. Thomas woke Mara up for breakfast and afterwards, everyone gathered on board for Captain's debriefing.

"Right then… Eduardo, let's get the ship repaired as fast as we can and set sail again by tonight. There are no Navy bases in this island and Russell didn't see any of their ships here. Even with our flag down, we don't want to take any chances of being recognised since Mara's bounty is as high as the moon!" Captain turned and winked at her, but before she could protest, he continued, "Christopher, you go with Eduardo. Nathan, get more food… and alcohol. Get Russell and Mara to help you. Thomas, you can come with me to the bar to err… blend in."

Mara gave Captain a funny look, "And what makes you think you won't be recognised at the bar?"

"You got me there, kid!" he roared with laughter, "I'll have a couple of drinks only, I promise! Let's go!"

They all followed Captain off the ship. Thomas whispered to Mara as they walked behind the other men, "He's probably not going to stop after two drinks. Happens every time."

"Why am I not surprised?" she whispered back. Then they both chuckled when they saw Captain take out a metal flask filled with gin from his coat pocket.

"Yo woman, hurry up over there!" Nathan's voice ordered from further ahead, where he was waiting for her with Russell.

She said goodbye to Thomas, who went off to catch up to Captain, and ran towards Nathan and Russell.

"Can we get some vanilla custard, Nathan?" Russell asked in an extremely hopeful tone.

"We've already got plenty of those," Nathan replied.

"You've got custard in the pantry?" Mara asked, baffled at the fact that these pirates liked custard. The Sirius pirates sure weren't your typical pirates, she thought.

"Of course we do! Anything you ask for, Nathan can cook up for you," Russell grinned at her, then continued to tell her about the amazing things Nathan can create in that kitchen of his.

Nathan walked a bit further ahead than the other two but he was still within earshot to their conversation. He shook his head and sighed to himself.

"But if you ever step foot in his kitchen," Russell said in a hushed voice, "He'll probably rage at you. And don't get me started on the fridge…" But of course, he went on about it anyway, "This one time, I was really drunk and hungry, so I thought I'd grab a slice of cheese from the fridge. Nathan found out and I wasn't allowed to have any food for a week! Worst of all, he still made my portion but he gave it to Thomas in front of me!"

She tried holding back her laughter at Russell's outrageous hand gestures. Suddenly, she bumped into Nathan's back. He turned around and glared at his companions.

"You two are giving me a headache," he gave them an annoyed look, "Now shut up and keep up before I chop the both of you and cook you for dinner!"

"Y-Yes Nathan!" Russell replied, doing the motion of zipping his lips.

"Yea, sure." She said, copying what Russell did but grinned at him afterwards.

Nathan shook his head as they continued walking to the marketplace.

By the late afternoon, the crew assembled back on board the recently fixed Sirius. Captain was slightly drunk and smelled strongly of alcohol and cigarettes and who knew what else… and Thomas was completely intoxicated. He was hanging off Mara like a baby monkey, being overly affectionate and praising her for being a 'wun-dar-ful pah-son'.

"Thomas, you idiot," Russell pulled him off Mara, only for him to escape and clung to her again.

She didn't mind that he was extremely happy, but she wasn't impressed by his impaired judgement on the concept of personal space. He was basically slobbering all over her.

"If you can't handle your alcohol, why did you drink so much, you silly boy," she muttered, turning her head as he showered her with kisses on her cheek and cuddled into her like she was a giant soft toy.

"Ahm," he gulped, "Not… drunken! Whoa… I feel…"

Christopher shook his head and with Russell's help, dragged Thomas away from her and took him to the sick bay to have a lie down before dinner, much to his protests. Captain followed them, badgering Christopher to let Thomas keep drinking.

Mara took a deep breath and smiled to herself. She wondered how they all became pirates. Then she started wondering about their background, when she caught Eduardo staring at her as he navigated the Sirius away from Dahlia Island.

"Um- Do you need me to help you with anything?" She asked him, sort of hoping that he would say no.

Even after what he'd said last night, he acted as if nothing had happened today. She felt like she was back to square one with him.

"No, I don't need you. Go see if Nathan needs help preparing dinner if you really want something to do that badly," he responded coldly.

"What an asshole…" she muttered softly as she headed to the kitchen. When she arrived there, Nathan was nowhere to be found but a large pot was steaming on top of the stove and there were various vegetable on the kitchen bench waiting to be peeled and cut. Forgetting what Russell had told her earlier, she stepped into the kitchen and started peeling some potatoes.

She shivered a little as she felt Nathan's breath on her neck. His voice was stern when he spoke into her ear, "What do you think you're doing?"

She turned around abruptly, holding a potato on one hand and a knife on the other. Nathan took a step forward and her lower back pressed onto the bench.

"I- um… I saw these needed to be peeled, so I started them for you," she said, locking gaze with him.

"And who said that you can?" He frowned at her, raising his voice slightly.

Mara put down the potato and knife behind her and crossed her arms, not wanting to be intimidated by Nathan. She brought her face closer to his and said, "No one. I thought I would help you so that dinner can be served faster. Got a problem with that?"

She didn't like the way he spoke to her and if her father was there, he would've told her to tell Nathan to stick it up where the sun didn't shine.

Nathan just stared into her eyes in silence, his brown eyes unfaltering. When she didn't back down, he relaxed and backed away.

"Make sure you peel them properly. If I find even a tiny patch of dirt, I'll skin _you_ alive," he said, going over to check on the boiling pot.

"Why do you have to be so-" she started, but stopped herself from starting a fight with him. Even though she was trying to help, Russell did say that Nathan was particular about his kitchen.

"Just peel those potatoes and don't get in my way," he said as he started chopping the other vegetables next to her.

She couldn't help but feel annoyed at him for being so rude. But she kept silent and peeled the potatoes as fast as she could. She was taught how to cook by the Navy fleet's chefs, surpassing their expectations whenever she was on board the Navy ships with her father. She knew a trick or two up her sleeves and she was able to finish cutting the potatoes the same time Nathan finished.

"I didn't ask you to-" he began, but stopped when he saw how many potatoes she'd chopped into pieces in a short amount of time.

She raised her eyebrow to dare him to insult her, but he just picked up the potato pieces and dropped them onto the pot.

Then he told her to grab various things from the pantry and he told her not to touch the fridge – Only he was allowed.

She didn't complain – she was feeling rather amused at his demeanour as they cooked dinner together. She even ignored him whenever he would threaten to boil her instead of the vegetables.

**End of Episode 8**


	9. Episode 9

**A/N**: Thanks again all for reading! Special thanks to those who reviewed, much love to you lovelies 3 I'm updating as fast as I can before I have to start this new job next week, but I hope I'll still have your support as I take a little bit longer to update, but I'll definitely try not to leave you hanging! Nathan or Eduardo, which pirate are you rooting for? :) I've made my choice, but it won't be revealed until a little later in the story, so please bear with me. x

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**Episode 9**

For the next couple of weeks, Nathan had allowed Mara to help him out in the kitchen to prepare the meals for the Sirius pirates. The food came out much quicker and tastier thanks to their combined expertise. Everyday she learnt how to create different things with Nathan's guidance and although he was acting just as rude and standoffish towards her, it seemed like he was starting to enjoy having the extra pair of hands to help. Usually he would get Russell or Thomas to help him, but every task he gave them would end up with the entire kitchen in a mess, which meant more work for them to do.

There was going to be a full moon party tonight and they were busier than usual due to the rest of the crew's requests for dishes which were strange for a pirate's taste. The night's menu consisted of sliced pork belly for Russell, meat dumplings for Captain, eggs Benedict for Christopher, toasted cheese sandwiches for Thomas and candied apples for Eduardo. Mara found Eduardo's request the most unusual as she poked wooden sticks into a few apples and she tried to stop a grin forming on her lips as she thought about the possibility that he could be a 'sweet' kind of guy.

"Your expression while stabbing the apples is creepy," Nathan said, giving her a weird look. She cleared her throat and glared at him. He chuckled a little and continued stuffing little balls of mince in the dumpling pastry. Then he asked quietly, "So do you have any requests?"

"Huh?" she pretended not to hear as she dipped an apple into a pot filled with caramelised sugar.

"How about I just stuff _you_ into a pie…" he mumbled. Mara laughed and slapped him on the shoulder lightly.

"C'mon stop being such a gruff all the time! Can't we be friends?" she asked, staring at his profile to see what he would say.

He paused what he was doing for a moment and gave her a cold look, "I'm only tolerating you because Captain said you can stay. I'm letting you help me because you've got some skills I can utilise, but that doesn't mean you're one of us. You're only a burden to us – do you understand?"

She dropped his gaze and clenched her fists. His words were harsh but not totally unexpected – she knew how he and Eduardo felt towards her. Maybe she should just take Captain's offer to drop her off at a port. She can start a life by herself – she didn't know how she would do this, but she'd be free from these horrible pirates.

"Where do you think you're going?" He put hand on her shoulder as she tried to walk out of the kitchen.

Brushing his hand off, she said, "I'm going to see Captain."

He gave her a look of annoyance and replied, "Go right ahead. We're better off without a weak, pathetic woman anyway. What makes you think we wanted you here when even the Imperial Navy wanted to get rid of you?"

Mara's lifted her hand swiftly to slap his face, but he caught her wrist before she was able to hit his flesh. How dare he speak to her like that! She was a stowaway but she'd been working hard to earn her place in the Sirius. She knew she would never be one of the pirates like them, but she thought – hoped – that she might find herself a new family in them.

"Just because you defeated the Kraken, you think that you've got what it takes to take me on? If you weren't a woman, I would've ruined you for injuring my shoulder and trying to harm Thomas."

Nathan's grip tightened on her wrist and she suddenly lost control.

Her other hand formed a fist and she punched Nathan on the stomach with great force. Nathan let go of her wrist as a result and blocked a blow to his face. He barely dodged the stove as she put all her strength in her punches and kicks.

He saw an opening and threw her against the pantry doors hard, making the contents inside rattle and fall with a loud noise. However, she wasn't faltered and head butted his chin just as hard. He fell backwards and landed on the floor, so she climbed on top and was about to raise her fist when someone suddenly hoisted her off Nathan.

"What in the hell is going on here!" Captain's voice roared in her ears and she watched as Nathan get up to fight back.

Captain turned around while still holding her and threw her to Eduardo, who quickly stopped her from running back into the kitchen. Meanwhile, Captain was trying to hold off Nathan and calm him down.

"Stop it Nathan! Go take a breather and clear your head." Then Captain turned to Eduardo, who was still holding Mara from struggling, "Take her to the deck to cool off."

Eduardo proceeded to drag Mara towards the deck, where Thomas, Russell and Christopher met them with worried looks.

"What happened, Miss Mara?" Thomas asked, as Mara shrugged off from Eduardo's grip rather violently, causing him to let go of her.

"This little troublemaker tried to start a fight with Nathan," Eduardo said, glaring at her.

"And I won." She spat out and walked off. Eduardo shook his head and went back to steer the ship.

Mara's brain was in a jumble as she took a deep breath to calm down. She stiffened up when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but it was just Thomas so she relaxed again.

"Mi- Miss Mara… Are you okay?" he asked hesitantly, "We heard a loud noise from the kitchen and I- I thought you'd gotten hurt."

"I'm fine, Thomas," she couldn't face him just yet, so she stared at the ocean instead. The sun was setting, giving the sky a lovely orange colour but she couldn't enjoy it with a million things running through her mind. She felt terrible, but she told Thomas to leave her alone.

Thomas looked like he was about to say something, but gave her some space as she wished.

The Sirius pirates were on the deck, celebrating the full moon that night. However, Mara didn't join in and stayed in Thomas' room, lying on the cold floor while she stared at the ceiling. She could hear faint voices and laughter, and sighed to herself. After some thought, she felt bad for attacking Nathan like that. Even if his words were harsh, there was some truth to it. She needed to work on her temper, but was there even a point in doing that now?

Her father wouldn't have liked to see her so angry like that – she was angry at the world but took out her anger on the wrong people. She closed her eyes and wondered how everything turned out to be like this.

She was in her own world when the door to the room opened. Nathan walked in and paused when he saw her lying on the floor, unmoving. She felt two fingers checking for a pulse on her neck and opened her eyes. "Nathan?" she said weakly.

Silence fell between them as they locked gaze. Her steely eyes were searching his – the light making the chestnut coloured irises glow. He was towering over her as he crouched down.

She was the first one to turn her head and look away.

"What do you want?" she asked quietly, feeling mortified at her defensiveness.

"Captain told me to bring you some food," he replied and she head him put a plate down next to her. It smelt like dumplings in the room.

"I… also wanted to apologise to you," he ran his hand through his hair and sighed, "What I said was uncalled for – I should respect Captain's order. I just couldn't accept it right away, but from now on... I'll try. Everyone will."

She sat up slowly. That was probably the best apology she was going to get from Nathan. Speaking of apologies-

"I'm sorry for losing my temper and for trying to hurt you." Her lips upturned as if she was going to cry but she continued instead, "I know I came here uninvited... I should've known my place – everyone has been so kind to let me stay in the first place… After all I've done."

"That's becoming water under the bridge," he stood up and walked towards the door. "Like I said, everyone's willing to give you a chance. So don't screw up okay, kid?"

She watched as the door shut after him. She looked at the dumplings Nathan left behind for her and a tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it off quickly when the door opened again, Nathan's head peering through the gap.

"By the way, I know how it feels… losing someone you love… And the feeling of guilt – like you're somehow responsible for it. But it's not your fault your father died. Like Eduardo said, you know that he didn't betray you, so why beat yourself up for it?"

He closed the door again and this time, Mara didn't try to stop the tears flowing out freely as the truth of Nathan's words hit her. She was wrong – they weren't horrible pirates at all.

**End of Episode 9**


	10. Episode 10

**Episode 10**

The Sirius landed on the island of Fidos, its small population made it a perfect spot without having to worry about being recognised. As usual, Captain wanted to head straight for the bar, insisting that the rest of the crew came with him.

"Forget about getting supplies for now," Captain said, "Let's celebrate our vacation!"

Everyone got off the Sirius and walked towards the town centre. Mara was carrying the dress that she wore when she first got on board, hoping to sell it. It was of no use to her now – wearing a dress wasn't practical on board of the Sirius, especially with the amount of work that she did.

"Captain, is it alright if I catch up? I want to try and get rid of this dress too," she asked when they passed a boutique.

"Of course you can!" Captain laughed, the loudness of his voice turned a few heads in their direction.

"I can accompany you, if you don't mind, Miss Mara." Thomas took the dress off her and carried it over his shoulder.

"That's a fine idea, Thomas, considering you got too drunk last time," Russell gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.

Mara and Thomas went into the shop while the rest of the Sirius Pirates headed towards the bar.

"We haven't found any treasures or had any adventures lately… I wonder how long until we have something exciting happen again!" Thomas said, taking a good look at the shop.

"You mean you can find something more exciting than me?" Mara joked as she headed for the shop counter.

Thomas and Mara have become inseparable. They treated each other with growing affection – she felt as if he was a brother that she never had. Russell was affectionate towards her too, but only to some degree as he looked up to Nathan more, so Thomas and Mara always stuck with each other.

"Hello, how can I help you?" A young shop assistant came out when Mara rang the bell at the counter. She was a pretty young lass around Thomas' age, with beautiful sandy curls which framed her small face.

From the corner of her eyes, Mara saw Thomas' face go red as he found invisible fluff to pick on the front of his shirt.

She elbowed him and said to the girl, "Do you buy second hand dresses? I've got one here which I don't need anymore."

Thomas cleared his throat and dropped the dress on the counter before wandering off towards the front of the shop.

"Please wait, I'll ask Mama if she'd accept your dress." The girl went to the back of the store and came out shortly after.

"She said that it will be magnificent once we restored it to its original condition! We'll give you five hundred gold coins for it."

Mara agreed when she noticed a wig on display behind the counter, the same colour and texture as the girl's hair.

"Um- Is that wig for sale?" she pointed at the wig. The girl grabbed the mannequin head which displayed the wig and lifted it down to the counter.

"Yes, it was made using my hair when it used to be longer! It's three hundred gold coins if you're interested."

"How about I take the wig in exchange for the dress?" Mara asked, and the girl had to ask her Mama again before handing the wig over.

"You've got yourself a deal," the girl smiled. She then handed Mara a folded piece of paper along with random small items. "These were inside one of the pockets of your dress."

Mara pocketed the letter and items, said thank you to the young shop assistant and met with Thomas who was waiting outside.

"Did you sell your-" Thomas stopped abruptly and blushed like a tomato when he saw her.

"Do you like it?" Mara grinned, twirling a long tendril of golden hair. She looked like a life-sized doll – the colour of the hair made her steely blue eyes more prominent. "This wig was made of that girl's hair."

Thomas' mouth gaped open and closed as his face went redder.

"Did you fall in love with her? Does this wig remind you too much of her? Should I return it?"

"M-Miss Mara! Stop teasing me!" He exclaimed, walking off ahead of her.

Mara laughed and chased after him, her new locks flowing behind her as she caught up with Thomas.

"I'm sorry for teasing you," she said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders while he sulked. "But do you always blush that hard when you meet girls like her?"

"No!" He retorted, poking her on the side jokingly.

They both laughed as they arrived at the bar. The crew was easy to find because they could recognise Captain's loud voice anywhere.

When they walked close to the table, there were four other people sitting with the Sirius pirates. One was a man with dark hair and a hat similar to Captain's, one was a plump woman and the other two were young men who looked identical to each other.

Thomas pulled Mara aside and told her that they were the Sirius pirates' long time rivals – Captain Alan, Fuzzy, Tom and Colin of the Rika.

"Get out of here, Alan!" Eduardo's voice said as he took out his gun. Nathan stood up and pulled out his sickle axe, with Russell following suit with his two swords.

Mara walked calmly to where the two captains were seated and slammed her hands down on the table. She looked at Morgan, who was staring at her, his eyes glinting with amusement.

"Everything alright here, Captain?" She turned to Alan and glared at him, "Is this man bothering you?"

"What's this, Morgan? You've got a woman for a bodyguard now?"

The Sirius crew were staring at her, no doubt surprised at her new appearance. Mara then pulled out a knife and pointed it at Alan.

"Don't talk to our Captain like that," she said, earning a laugh from Morgan.

"Our… captain?" Alan gave Morgan a questioning look, "Is this woman a pirate?"

"She sure is!" Morgan grinned.

"What?! Impossible! I'm the only woman pirate around!" The plump woman who was called Fuzzy stood up and glared at Mara. Morgan laughed even louder.

Alan grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him, her knife only inches away from touching his throat. "You're feisty… I like the looks of you," then he continued, much to Fuzzy's disdain, "Why don't you join us at the Rika instead?"

"She's part of our crew, so you can go to hell, Alan," Eduardo replied for her. She lowered the knife at Alan's throat and gave Eduardo a questioning look. She shot a surprised look at Nathan who also defended her, "No way, she's way too good for the Rika."

"I agree – she can probably kick your butts right now!" Russell joined in. Behind her, Thomas nodded in agreement.

The Rika pirates stood up and glared at each other. Captain Morgan suddenly stood up and said, "Enough of this! We're going back to the ship now. If you know what's good for you, Alan, you'll leave it at this."

He walked towards the front of the bar and the rest of the men followed. Thomas pulled on Mara's arm and she lowered her knife and followed the others.

"I'll come back for you, blondie! You'd look good all tied up on my bed!" Alan yelled behind them.

"What a total creep," she muttered to Thomas.

"Yeah, that's Captain Alan for you," he replied, shaking his head.

When they reached the town square, Captain turned around and Mara saw the look of amusement was still there on his face.

"Nice wig, _blondie,_" he grinned, "You look good in it."

"Thanks Captain," she grinned back.

A group of women suddenly appeared and flirted with Eduardo and Nathan, so Captain pulled her aside and walked her to the fountain as the crew entertained the women.

"I've been meaning to ask you, kid," Captain said, but got distracted by a curvy young woman who walked past.

Mara cleared her throat and gave him a look, "Yes Captain?"

"Oh- As I said, I've wanted to ask…" He focused his attention back to her, "Where did you get such amazing combat skills?"

She explained to him that cooking wasn't the only thing she learnt during her childhood sailing in her father's ship.

"Can you use a gun? Set off a canon? Drop an anchor?"

She nodded to all his questions – she'd seen her father do all those things a million times before and he'd taught her how to do them.

"Is there anything you can't do?" he asked, to which she replied, "I can't paint very well and I'm no good at mathematical equations."

"Your blood's worth bottling, kid!" he roared with laughter, giving her two solid pats on the back.

Mara gave Captain a mock salute and chuckled to herself. Her father may have taught her all those things so that she was prepared if ever they were attacked by pirates – but somehow she doubted her father would approve if he knew she had a change of heart and even became part of a pirate crew.

The Sirius Pirates to be precise.

**End of Episode 10**


	11. Episode 11

**A/N:** All your support has been so overwhelming. I definitely feel loved :) Hope you all enjoy this little twist..

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**Episode 11**

One thing that Mara really hated about being a sailor was… the population of sea birds. Why was there so many species? She hated seagulls the most – the loud noise they made sounded like they were being tortured in front of a speakerphone. Now that she lived on the Sirius, she still hated sea birds no less.

"When can we set sail? The sun is almost in the middle of the sky – I can't believe Captain is still snoozing," she grumbled on her hands and knees, scrubbing the deck which was coated with bird droppings. They were still anchored at Fidos Island when they should've set sail hours ago.

"I'm not sure what happened after the others went off with those women," Thomas said across the deck, moping the floors where Mara had just scrubbed with a wire brush. "Who knows, they might've came home very late while we were already asleep."

"I think you and I both know what happened when they went off with those women," Mara shook her head and wiped a drop of sweat from her forehead. The direct sun made her feel like she was in an oven and the way she was sweating one would think she'd just been to the sauna. She'd already tied back her hair, but the length of her dark mane felt like a woollen blanket on her back. She was wearing a short sleeved top which she had bought the other day and rolled up the hem on her breeches. Looking at Thomas who was working just as hard as her, she threw the brush she was holding in frustration. "Goddammit! When the hell are they coming back?!"

Just as she said it, a woman showed up at the top of the steps that led to the cabins. She was a buxom woman with two mountain tops that peeked above the bodice of her skimpy dress. She carried herself with an air of self-importance and twirled a lock of red hair near her cheekbone.

Mara turned to Thomas, who took one look at the woman and went straight back to moping. He shrugged at Mara, as if he saw women come out of the sleeping quarters all the time. She turned to look at the woman, who was scrunching her pretty face like she'd seen something unpleasant. Then the woman turned around and went back down the steps but just as Mara stood up to confront her, she came back with Eduardo in tow.

The woman pointed at Mara and pouted at Eduardo, "Why is there another woman on the ship? I thought you Sirius pirates didn't allow any women on board? And here I thought I was special."

The sound of her shrill voice irritated Mara. She glared at Eduardo, who was eyeing her up and down while wrapping his arms around the woman's tiny waist. Did he like disproportionate women? Most importantly, what the hell was he doing bringing her on board? Even though Mara came uninvited as opposed to the woman, who she assumed was more than welcomed by Eduardo, she didn't like the idea of having to socialise with her. Somehow she didn't think they would be compatible as friends.

Much to Mara's relief, Eduardo started steering her towards leaving the Sirius.

"Don't worry about her," he said to the woman as he helped her down the steps to the wharf, "She's just hired help… Didn't you see that she was cleaning the deck?"

"M-Mara…" Thomas began, but he was too late. She was already at the edge of the deck, directly above where Eduardo was guiding the wench – and she threw the wire brush at him, narrowly missing the back of his head.

"Ack! I thought you said she was just the cleaning lady!" the woman squealed, running off on her own towards the town.

Eduardo walked a few steps to where the brush had dropped. He picked it up and walked back towards the Sirius in an eerily calm manner. Mara met him with an angry stare at the top of the steps with crossed arms as she leaned against one foot.

Eduardo came up rather close to her, until nose almost touched his chin.

"You missed," he smirked, sounding pleased.

"…On purpose." She looked into his stupid face covered by that stupid eye patch, "Next time I'll make sure I get both you _and_ that tramp."

His smirk disappeared and said coldly, "Don't be so jealous, kid. No matter what you do, you'll never amount to a woman like that."

She knew better than to take his bait. However, her temper flared as they glared daggers at each other.

"Go to hell," she muttered and turned around to pick up the brush that he threw. Thomas was gripping his mop looking like a scared puppy, so Mara steered him towards the front of the deck which still needed to be cleaned.

She heard Eduardo cursing under his breath as he stomped all the way to his room, followed by a slam of a door.

"I really don't know what his problem is… He's always rude to me. Even Nathan's been kinder lately," Mara's forehead creased with a frown as she went back down on her hands and knees to assume cleaning.

"But that's because you've lessened his workload in the kitchen by a phenomenal amount," Thomas teased. She shot him a mock glare and they both burst out in laughter.

But the sound of those bloody seagulls overhead the Sirius burst her bubble and made her want to grab one of Captain's guns – show them their last day.

As soon as they finished cleaning, the birds soiled the floors near Mara's foot.

"That's it! I'm waking Captain up and getting that idiot Eduardo to sail us out of here!" she burst out, handing Thomas the brush and plodded off towards Captain's room.

As she was about to knock on Captain's door, she saw something fall on the floor from the corner of her eyes. She stopped and recognised the folded piece of paper that the young girl in the dress shop had handed back to her when she sold her dress.

What struck her was that she didn't remember having putting it in one of the pockets in her dress. One of the maids in her father's house in Moldor must have done it before she left for Yamato. Weird, none of them told her about it.

She picked it up, hesitating at first, but opened it outside Captain's room. Her face suddenly became pale as her eyes scanned the writing on the paper. It was her father's handwriting – in a letter addressed to her.

Hot tears rolled down her face as she read the content of the letter – what her father had written shortly before he died.

Mara couldn't hear anything but the sound of her beating heart, broken all over again. Her mind was in a jumble and her legs took off as fast as they could. She heard Thomas shouting after her, but she didn't relent as she ran off the Sirius, heading towards the town. Her surroundings blurred as she ran, as consequence to the different emotions bursting through her.

Meanwhile on the Sirius, Captain opened his door, rubbing his eye as he grumbled about all the noise everyone was making. Then he noticed the letter that Mara dropped after she read it. Eduardo, Nathan, Christopher and Russell all came out of their rooms to see what was happening.

Captain had already started reading the letter out loud when Thomas joined them, informing everyone that Mara had ran off the Sirius.

_My Dearest Maureen,_

_First of all I want you to know that no matter what, you are always in my heart and I love you as my own daughter. I apologise for not telling you sooner I was waiting for the right time. However, I have to tell you now as there are people out there that will betray me and try to hurt you. I would much rather prefer for you to hear this directly from me, albeit not face to face as time has unfortunately run out for me. _

_I am truly sorry if you feel deceived after this, but I do hope you don't bear grudges. Mara… I am not your paternal father and neither was your late mother your birth mother. You arrived on our doorstep as an infant and we didn't know where you came from, but regarded you as a gift from heaven._

_Whoever gave you to us – possibly your real parents – also left a journal. This journal is hidden in our house and I was going to give it to you next month when you turn twenty one of age. That was also when I planned to tell you. Alas, trouble is brewing within Moldor and I am suspecting foul play by someone in the higher ranks of the Imperial Navy, which is why I have sent you to Yamato on purpose, so that you may be safe. In the next couple of days, I am sad to say, I may not be here anymore. When I'm gone, I do not want you involved in whatever it is they have involved me in. _

_I am honoured to have been able to be called Father by you. You gave me and your late Mother so much joy. Whatever happens, we will always watch over you, our beloved daughter._

_With love,_

_Father_

As soon as Captain finished reading the letter, Eduardo and Thomas dashed off, presumably to find Mara.

"Shit has hit the fan," Nathan mumbled, following after Eduardo with Russell in tow.

Captain turned to Christopher, "I guess we better take their lead and look for the kid before something happens to her. It seems like she needs us."

And so the Sirius pirates had to stay in Fidos Island for another day as they tried to find the woman who was now part of their crew.

**End of Episode 11**


	12. Episode 12

A/N: I hope the twist from the previous chapter wasn't too overdone... Enjoy this chapter :) Thanks always for all the support!

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**Episode 12**

The coldness of the stone wall behind her chilled Mara's back. She sat there, slouched down like a doll that has been left behind – unmoving, expressionless. Her brain had stopped functioning – it was too painful to keep it running with her memories. Her steely eyes glazed over, fixated at the tips of her boots where she planted her feet on the opposite wall.

The alley she was in was narrow and the high walls of the two buildings blocked the sun. She felt the cold down to her bones. But she didn't have any energy – nor did she want to move from that spot.

She didn't know how long she'd been there – it felt like forever, but she didn't care. She didn't feel like she belonged anywhere after finding out the truth about her parents – or rather, the people she thought were her parents. She was neither of Moldor nor Yamato blood. She didn't know what she was, but one thing was for sure, she felt like some kind of impostor.

In the distance, she heard faint noises of the town bustling with people going about their daily business. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought that the Sirius might sail off without her, but she shook the feeling off – she couldn't force herself to function. She wondered if the others would try and find her, but she'd been selfish in running off and they didn't want her there in the first place, so she wouldn't be such a big loss.

She'd just stay there forever – there was nobody she loved in the world left anyway.

Mara opened her eyes at the sound of a voice, "How long do you plan on staying here?"

Dawn was passing and it was getting difficult to see anything in the alley. She tried focusing her blurry vision at the face hovering in front of her. She made out the shape of an eye patch… Eduardo. She then avoided his eye and focused on the tip of her boots again.

"Stop playing dumb, we've all been looking for you for hours – Don't tell me we've wasted our time because you've decided to ditch us?" he questioned her, his harsh voice snapping her to reality.

Then he fell silent as he muttered something Mara couldn't decipher and leaned back against the wall behind him.

The two of them sat there in silence, Eduardo looked up at the stars which were starting to glow as the darkness enveloped the sky.

Eventually, he said something that she could barely hear, "I was wrong… About your father." When she didn't reply, he continued, "He betrayed you after all, even though you believed in him."

"He didn't betray me…" she replied quietly, the pain in her chest made it hard for her to think.

"He lied to you all this time! He's not even your real father… How can you say he didn't betray you?" he said in the cold voice that she was growing accustomed to, "Just because he's dead now, doesn't make his lies okay."

Something snapped inside her as she lunged at Eduardo, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt as she slammed him against the wall. "You don't know anything about my father," she growled, her eyes watering as tears threatened to spill.

"Neither do you," he retorted, grabbing her wrists and pushed her off him hard enough that she lost her balance. The next thing she knew, he was holding her wrists above her head and pinned her down with his body.

His eyes were as cold as the tone of his voice, "My father abandoned my mother and me when I was a little kid. He turned my mother's life into hell, but she raised me on her own while he pursued his selfish career. Eventually all the hard work my mother did drove her into an early grave. He was a traitor – he didn't deserve to be called a father… Just like yours."

"No! My father's nothing like that… Even if he's not my real father," she said with gritted teeth, feeling helpless as Eduardo put all his weight on her as tears flowed freely down the sides of her face. "M-my mother," she stammered, "died when I was young too. But they loved each other. They were always there for me… and they loved each other. S-so don't think that they're anything like your father!"

Eduardo seemed taken aback. He released her wrists and got off her.

"In fact, they're _nothing_ like your father…" she said quietly, her tears streaming in a steady pace, "I can't say the same about you… The way you treat me… How are you any better than him?!"

At this point, her sobs were uncontrollable. She tried to wipe the tears away but it was of no use. She lied on the cold pavement, tears disappearing into her hairline and rapidly forming a pool behind her head.

Suddenly, she felt Eduardo grab her hands and pulling her up. With one tug, she was on her feet – and pulled towards his chest. She wanted to push him away but he held on tight with surprising gentleness.

So she cried into his chest instead, the mixed emotions about her father exploded once more.

"I'm sorry, kid. I didn't mean to make you cry. You're right – I have no reason to judge your father like I did mine," he spoke in an uncharacteristically soft voice, resting his chin on the top of her head. "We'll go back to the Sirius, get some rest and in the morning you can decide what you want to do. You can even kick my ass and not speak to me ever again. But you can't do that if you stay in this dark alley – You'll be frozen by the morning, or worse, dead... What do you say?"

Mara didn't resist as he guided her to walk back to the Sirius.

Eduardo took her back to Thomas' room, the room that was equally hers now, and she'd fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

At midnight, the rest of the Sirius pirates returned to the ship, exhausted. Upon seeing Eduardo on the deck, Thomas ran up to him, his face seriously laden with worry.

"Eduardo, did you find her? We looked everywhere and we couldn't-" Thomas stumbled with his words, "It's so cold now… She- I don't know what'll happen to her… What if-"

"She's in your room, fast asleep." Eduardo interrupted. Thomas immediately ran towards his room and when he saw Mara sleeping on the bed, he let out an enormous sigh. He walked over to her and brushed her cheek with the tips of his finger, smiling to himself. Then he pulled out the makeshift bed fell asleep with relief that she was now found.

Outside on the deck, Russell asked Eduardo with a tired voice, "Where the hell did you find her?"

"In a narrow alley, on the outskirts of town... I walked past her a few times until I noticed her sitting there like a lifeless doll," Eduardo replied, loosening a button on the top of his shirt.

"We searched everywhere, and asked everyone we passed. What a troublesome woman…" Nathan said, shaking his head as he rubbed his tired eyes, "But I'm glad you found her."

Captain yawned and patted Eduardo on the back, "Good job, man. I'm going to bed – we'll sort her out in the morning."

"I'm glad you found her," Christopher nodded at Eduardo, "I'm pretty exhausted myself. Time to hit the hay, I think."

They said goodnight to Eduardo, who stayed on the deck staring at the stars as thoughts ran through his head.

_They're nothing like your father,_ she had said to him.

_How are you any better than him?!_

He mentally slapped himself. The one thing he didn't want to hear from that woman – in fact, from anyone – was that she likened him to his father.

As a matter of fact, he didn't want to be anything like his father. Deep down inside, he was envied her bond with her adoptive father, even if he was a Navy Commander.

It was better than anything Eduardo had felt – or rather, hadn't felt for his father in a long, long time.

In the morning, the crew gathered around as Captain held a meeting on board of the Sirius. Mara's eyes were swollen from crying and she looked glum as they all sat around the table in the dining room. She didn't touch the pancakes Nathan had made that morning, nor did she take any sip of the glass of water which Thomas had offered her.

"Mara," Captain called her and cleared his throat. She looked up at him with a grim expression, unable to cope with everything.

"Mara… Are you feeling okay?" Thomas asked from next to her, rubbing her arm to comfort her.

Captain cleared his throat again, as the rest of the crew stared into their food, not knowing how to react at the awkwardness of the situation.

"Well… I've spoken to these guys earlier… And we've all agreed," he cleared his throat for the third time, "…that since you're now part of our crew, we'd like to help you find that journal your father was talking about. We can leave for Moldor today."

"But only if you want to!" Russell spoke up, and then shrank back down on his chair as he saw her on the verge of tears.

"You've been an invaluable help to me – to us all – so far. It was unexpected, but… I- We don't mind if you wanted to stay with us," Nathan offered, earning a nod of agreement from Christopher and Captain.

Eduardo said nothing as he stared at the cup of coffee in front of him.

"So… What do you say, Mara?" Captain asked softly.

"We can't force you to stay… But I'd miss you too much if you left! Please stay? You're now part of my-" Thomas said, looking around at the other Sirius pirates, "…our family."

"She's right, Mara. You're really one of us now and it'd be a huge loss if you left…" Christopher said in his gentle voice.

Mara's swollen eyes brimmed with tears again and everyone misunderstood it as a sign that she didn't feel the same way about them.

Thomas looked away in sadness, feeling like he was about to lose the woman he'd thought of as his older sister. And here he thought they were inseparable, but he thought he was about to be proved wrong.

**End of Episode 12**


	13. Episode 13

**A/N: **Wohoo, an adventure! Enjoy this chapter :)

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**Episode 13**

Mara couldn't even begin to imagine that she would belong to another family. She'd had her father and mother, and even Leonardo once upon a time, but being a part of the Sirius pirates? Not even in her wildest dreams.

Yet there she was now, with Captain Morgan, Thomas, Russell, Nathan, Christopher and Eduardo sitting around her, wanting to help her find the journal that was left with her when she was an infant – possibly by her real parents.

"So Mara…" Captain said slowly, "What do you say? Do you want to become a pirate of the Sirius with us? Our… career may not be the most conventional, but we are good people."

Without giving it much more thought, Mara nodded her head while wiping the tears off her face. Thomas' face lighted up and he wrapped his arms around her in a massive bear hug.

"I'm so glad, Mara… I'm so glad…" he kept saying over and over again. Mara hugged him back, stroking his hair with a smile forming on her lips. The others had smiles on their faces too, except for Eduardo who just looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

"We'd thought that it might be important to you that we find it and see what that journal says, if it really did come from your real parents," Captain said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"No… I can't make such a decision that will compromise your lives. If we go to Moldor, the Navy won't be merciful," she said quietly, hugging Thomas closer to her. "We all have bounty on our heads and they'll want to hang us in public at sight. The journal's not that important anyway. I never knew my real parents, but what I had in my adoptive mother and father were enough."

"But it won't hurt to find out what's in that journal!" Russell pondered, and then he said with excitement, "Besides, we haven't had any great adventures lately and the Navy doesn't scare me!"

"Me neither," Christopher chuckled.

"You're right on that, mate," Captain grinned, obviously thinking that it was about time they did something fun.

"I thought that you pirates only consider treasure hunting an adventure?" Mara questioned, her mood lifting up considerably with their enthusiasm.

"It is a treasure… in a way. It is for you anyway." Thomas offered.

Even Nathan was starting to get excited at the prospect of the new proposition. He half smiled and shook his head, "You really do have a lot more to learn about us, kid. Good thing you'll have plenty of time to do that now that you're going to be with us."

"Good, then it's settled! We'll set sail for Moldor... Although, our first mate hasn't spoken of his approval yet. After all, he is our navigator." Captain slapped Eduardo on the back as to encourage him to say something. He had been quiet throughout the entire ordeal.

They had a fight again in that alley, but he apologised and took her back to the Sirius. But now Mara couldn't even read his face. She didn't know what he thought, assumed that he was still annoyed she came on board the Sirius in the first place. But he'd told her about his own parents that night and she couldn't help but to want to know more about him.

She wanted to know more about all of her new family as a matter of fact.

"Eduardo?" Mara looked at him, hoping that he would say something. But as much as the others considered her to be part of their family now, if Eduardo still didn't want her there, then she wouldn't be so bold as to overstep his verdict. She didn't know if they would get along in the future or not, but at the same time she had no right to make his life uncomfortable by being on the Sirius when he had been there far longer than she had, even obtained some authority as the first mate.

"Do what you all want. My only purpose is to serve Captain. I don't really care how I do it, even if it's by helping the kid find a notebook," Eduardo abruptly stood up and left the room after he spoke.

Captain chuckled a little, "That Eduardo… He's always trying to hide his true feelings. But I'll take that as a yes to our proposition," Then he turned to everyone, "Nathan, Russell and Mara, go gather more supplies for our journey to Moldor. And get plenty of drinks to celebrate Mara's official membership into the Sirius! The rest of us will get the Sirius ready to set sail."

The crew cheered a jolly "Aye, aye, Captain!" before heading off to do their requested duties.

They set sail later on that night and Mara helped Nathan in the kitchen to prepare food for a party intended for her, although Nathan was convinced Captain loved any excuse to have a party and drink alcohol.

"You're getting real good at this, kid." Nathan overlooked her preparation of a side dish she was making for Thomas, coating the piece of fish in a batter mixture she'd prepared herself.

"If you're not careful, I might even replace you as chef one day," she joked, but then risked a look at Nathan to see his expression.

He turned to her with a cold look at first, "I doubt that, and even if you do, I'll stuff you in one of the canons and fire you off into god knows where. That way I'll get my job back." He warmed up to a smile and continued stirring the pot of minestrone soup on the stove.

"You can work the canons?" she asked, watching as he delicately served the soup into a large bowl.

"Yea, don't act so shocked. It's my other duties on the Sirius."

"Oh… I just thought your only duty was being a chef, that's all," she quipped.

"Woman, do you want me to-"

"Chop you up into little pieces… Yea, yea. Hey, give me a taste of that soup before you serve it!"

Mara was about to grab a clean spoon from the cutlery drawer, but Nathan had already offered her some of the soup in the ladle he was holding up to her mouth.

"What are you staring at? Here…" He looked flustered and pretty much shoved the ladle to her mouth.

"Unf!" she muttered a curse as she fanned her tongue with her hands, which was hanging out like a silly dog.

"Ah, crap… I forgot to blow on it to cool it down." Nathan quickly put the ladle down and grabbed Mara's face, forcing her to open her mouth as his face came down close to hers.

"Wha ahr ya dohn?"

"Stop wriggling about, I'm trying to see whether you burned your tongue badly or not."

She was feeling slightly embarrassed as he looked into her mouth – it was an unusual sight.

"Well, this is an unusual sight." Russell cleared his throat at the entrance of the kitchen. Nathan immediately let go of Mara and mumbled something along the lines of "Nah, your tongue is fine."

Russell's face turned pink as he misconstrued the situation. "Um, Mara and Nathan? Err… I'll just leave now."

"Wait, it's not what you think you silly boy!" Mara grabbed his wrist and pulled him back into the kitchen, making him more flustered than he already was.

"What you do between the two of you is your business! I have no intention of joining-"

Nathan shoved a mini bacon and egg quiche into Russell's mouth to shut him up. He grumbled for a little bit but as the flavours danced in his tongue, he munched in happy silence.

"Stop being a little shit. We weren't doing anything of that sort. I was just-" Nathan paused, looking a bit flustered himself, "Looking to see if the kid burned her mouth from the soup she just ate."

"Hey, you were the one that forced it into my mouth," Mara retorted, shooting him a look as she chopped some vegetables.

Russell's face turned pink again as his mouth gaped, in the middle of chewing the mini quiche.

"Russell! If you're going to think silly things, make yourself useful at least and bring out more drinks for Captain and the others," Mara ushered Russell out with little protest from him.

Nathan sighed out loud and wiped a drop of sweat on his forehead.

"Silly things, huh…" He muttered to himself.

"Huh?"

She looked at Nathan, but he only shook his head and tended to the food in the oven.

Finally, they finished preparing all the food and with Russell and Thomas' help, they brought it up to the deck where Captain had already been drinking with Eduardo and Christopher on an empty stomach. They gobbled up the food and poured more drinks in not time.

"Here's to our newest member, Mara! Welcome on board the Sirius!" Captain proposed a toast happily, lifting his cup into the air.

"Cheers!"

Even Eduardo lifted his cup up a little and she saw what seemed to be a faint smile on his face, although it quickly faded as he drowned his drink in one go.

Thomas and Russell wrapped their arms around her shoulders, singing a cheerful song as the others watched and laughed.

They were all starting to get drunk, but Mara had never felt happier. As for the journey to Moldor, she hoped that whatever was written in the journal was worth risking their lives over. Nevertheless, she was willing to give her life to protect her new family if it came to that.

**End of Episode 13**


	14. Episode 14

**Episode 14**

The light breeze of the wind felt great against Mara's skin. She and Thomas had just finished cleaning up after breakfast, which they all had on the deck that morning. Nathan and Russell cleaned up in the kitchen. Afterwards, the crew was lounging around the deck, soaking up the sun as Eduardo slowed the ship down to enjoy the lovely midday weather.

Mara lied down on the deck, stretched next to Thomas on a mat that he'd put down, as the Sirius swayed gently from side to side. She loved the calmness of simply drifting in the sea, cruising on gentle waves.

"Mara, how good are you with a sword?" Thomas asked, watching clouds float around the bright sky.

"I'm better at handling knives than fencing or using guns, if that's what you're asking." She replied, giving him a smile, "You should know from first hand experience."

"Y-yea… That's why I wondered about swords." He laced his fingers together and rested them on top of his torso as he kept watching the clouds go by.

"I think you're probably a lot better than I am, you always carry that wooden sword around with you."

"But that's the thing – it's only a wooden sword…" then he lowered his voice, "Captain said that I can have a real sword when I'm good enough. I want to ask Russell to help me, but he gets carried away a lot. Sometimes he even breaks my sword in two!"

She turned to him and watched his forehead crumble as he pretended to slash the air with a pretend sword. "I can be your practice partner if you'd like," she said to him.

"You would? Really?" Thomas' face lifted as they both sat up. She folded her feet under her and nodded, "Definitely! I could use the practice too. I used to practice a lot with my father and some of the men in the Navy ships, but that's been a while now."

"Do you, by any chance, want to do some practice now?" she asked him.

He shouted a loud "Yes, lets!" and jumped up to grab some wooden swords to practice with.

"Why is Thomas being so noisy?" Captain asked Mara, who stood up and folded the mat she and Thomas were sitting on.

"He's gone to get the practice swords out!" Russell replied for her, leaping up to follow Thomas. Nathan sighed at the cards that were scattered on the ground as a result of Russell's sudden movement.

Thomas and Russell came out with wooden swords not too long after, their faces radiating the excitement they felt.

"I suppose you kids want us to put away our chairs?" Captain chuckled, lifting himself out of his lounge chair as Thomas, Russell and Mara nodded at his suggestion. Christopher and Eduardo followed suit and migrated over to where Nathan sat while sorting the pile of cards, where they resumed reading.

So the three youngest members of the Sirius pirates practiced their fencing skills under Captain's watch, Russell obviously on a more advanced level than the other two, although Mara and Thomas almost equalled in their skills.

"C'mon you two, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean you should go easy on me!" Mara said when the two young men kept taking hits from her. Captain roared with laughter as Russell and Thomas' brows furrowed with concentration – both of them ended up trying to fend off Mara, who gave it her all.

Suddenly, the Sirius shook only ever so slightly, but it was enough to make Mara and Russell lose their balance and lose grip of their swords.

"Got yourself a stowaway, Morgan?"

"What the-" Mara exclaimed as she felt a sword held against her throat as an arm wrapped around the front of her chest.

"Alan!" As soon as Captain shouted Alan's name, the Sirius pirates were by his side in a split second.

"Let go of her, you idiot!" Thomas barked, picking up his wooden sword from where it was knocked off.

"Don't call our captain an idiot, you baby-faced snot-eater!"

They heard a high pitched battle cry which sounded like someone had set seagulls on fire as Fuzzy landed on the deck with a loud thud next to Captain Alan.

"I really don't understand why you Rika pirates always come on our ship uninvited," Captain glared at Alan, showing blatant disapproval.

Of course, in the Rika pirates' style, Alan and Fuzzy ignored him.

"Let go of me, you buffoon!" Mara struggled against Alan's grip, which made him hold on to her tighter.

"Feisty, aren't we?" Alan snickered, then took a big whiff of her hair. "Mmm… You smell... familiar."

"That's it!" Mara yelled, stomping on Alan's toes as hard as she could and thumped her head backwards at his face. She grabbed a hold of his sword, turned around and held the tip of the sword against his neck.

"Owww!" Alan yowled like a dying dog while clutching his nose.

"You bitch! How dare you hurt Captain Alan!" Fuzzy growled at Mara, but backed of slightly as Mara swung Alan's sword near her face in warning.

"Oh, I _dare_ to do so much more than bruising his nose. How about skewing this sword through the two of you?" Mara snarled.

She felt Captain's hand on her shoulder refraining her from doing just that, so she lowered Alan's sword. "They're a pain in the butt, but they're harmless enough."

"We're not harmless! We can inflict a lot of- Hey, I've seen her face before!" Alan's eyes lit up with recognition, having forgotten all about his nose as his fascination with the woman called Mara was born. He turned to Captain and asked, "Does your lady friend from Fidos Island have a twin?"

Captain burst out in laughter, but then remembered that the Rika pirates only saw her wearing the blonde wig at Fidos Island.

"She's the same person, you idiot!" Thomas shouted from behind them.

"What the hell are you two doing on our ship anyway?!" Russell yelled, pulling out his two real swords.

"Your heads will have holes soon if you two don't piss off back to that rotten ship where you belong," Eduardo spoke menacingly as he took out his infamous pistol.

Christopher nodded and sighed, "I really don't want to see blood on our deck, so it's best you two leave."

"He means _your___blood, by the way – not ours," Nathan growled.

Alan just smirked and replied, "Now, now, there's no need for all that. We just wanted to say hello! Although I didn't think that you'd have such an exquisite chameleon on board!"

He chuckled and glanced at Mara in a way which made her think he was undressing her in his mind. She instinctively covered her chest with the arm not holding the sword. "My offer still stands," he said unabashedly, "Come join us in the Rika… Or in my bed."

She gave him a look which said it all – _hell no, never, not in a million trillion years, thanks but no thanks._

"I'd rather be shark food," she said instead.

"Tell you what, Morgan, trade you good ol' reliable Fuzzy here for that delicious morsel of yours!"

Fuzzy's jaw dropped open in shock, "Ca- Captain! How could you!"

"We've told you before and we'll tell you again, Alan. She's-" Captain began.

"She belongs to us!" Eduardo finished.

"That's right, so you can keep the fatty and piss off back to your own ship before we hack you into pieces!"

Mara turned sharply to Eduardo to Nathan. They really didn't want her to join the Rika! Or maybe they just really dislike Alan. Either way, she felt… happy.

Alan looked like he was about to say something further, but decided against it when Morgan spoke to him sternly, "I'd take that as a serious warning if I were you, Alan. Now go on back to the Rika before you're out of strikes."

"Hmph, fine. I'll let you all off this time." Alan proceeded to jump on the ledge of the Sirius. He made eye contact with Mara, whose warm feeling was replaced with annoyance again, "Think about me when you're in bed tonight, little one."

Then he told Fuzzy he was only joking and leaped off the side of the Sirius. Fuzzy followed, looking very unamused.

Mara ran to the edge of the ship and saw Alan and Fuzzy rowing away on a dingy they must have used to get to the Sirius from the Rika, which was anchored a few kilometres away.

Fuzzy screeched and dropped her paddle into the water when Mara threw Alan's sword towards them like a javelin, piercing into the wood in between Alan's legs. They then rowed away as fast as they could. Unfortunately, Alan wasn't deterred for very long as he shouted, "I'll surely have you tied up to my bed next time!"

"What a creep," Mara said when they were finally out of sight, "I'll go with him when hell freezes over."

"As if we'd let you," Captain grinned, ruffling her hair.

Mara would never trade being a Sirius pirate for anything else. Maybe for another chance at her previous life, but that was impossible, so she decided to keep her past just as it was – memories. And in a couple of weeks, they'd arrive in Moldor where she might discover another fragment of her past, if they find that journal from her childhood. Either way, she was glad she had the Sirius pirates behind her every step of the way.

"I know." She replied.

She couldn't stop the corner of her lips from forming a silly grin.

**End of Episode 14**


	15. Episode 15

**A/N: **Eek, sorry to make you all wait so long! I've been busy with work, but I'm glad I can churn out this chapter for you... Someone will make a special appearance in this one, so hope you all enjoy it! :)

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**Episode 15**

The Sirius had one day's worth of sailing left until they reached Moldor. Captain planned for the to leave the Sirius a decent few miles behind and make the rest of their way in two dinghies in order to land undetected by the Imperial Navy. When it came down to it, Mara had barely slept the night before and was looking worn-out before they even left set foot on Moldor. Russell helped Nathan anchor the ship after Eduardo navigated the Sirius to a spot just outside Moldor's water border.

Mara was anxious – she had a great childhood in Moldor, however toward the end she had associated the island with unpleasant memories.

"Careful down the ladder!" Thomas shouted from the dinghy he was on below. Mara held her breath as she went down the ladder, where Eduardo was also waiting. The other four had already left on the other dinghy not too far ahead.

Eduardo and Thomas rowed towards the others once Mara got on safely. She couldn't hear anything else but the sound of her thumping heart. The golden tresses which were not her own glided across her face, moving with the wind. She wore the wig she purchased from Fidos Island – she didn't know how effective it would serve to disguise her, but it was worth a shot.

"Stop looking like a pitiful pup. This was your own choice," Eduardo said as his eye met hers.

"Ed, be nice!" Thomas gave Eduardo a warning look, splashing him a little with his paddle. Eduardo kept quiet but kept his eye on Mara the entire way.

They finally arrived at the back of the island, an area surrounded by forests and little villages where oppressed Uru tribes were concentrated. There were less Navy patrols there, not much surveillance as the poverty stricken area were left to its own devices as long as they keep within Imperial rules.

"Look at the living conditions of some of these people…" Russell said sympathetically as they scouted the area for a horse and cart to hire.

"Then again, we all already knew that," Christopher said sadly, looking at Eduardo for some reason.

"Some of us more so than others," Eduardo said, not kindly. He didn't look at Mara when he spoke, but he didn't have to for her to know that he aimed his words at her.

And he was right, she knew about the poverty of the Uru people. But she didn't know how bad it was because she'd always been on the other side of the fence, happily living with her Navy commander father in a manor within the Imperial quarters, if not in his ship, sailing in the ocean.

"Come on now, let's concentrate on the goal here. If I were a cart and horse, where would I be?" Captain, who left his hat and great cape behind on the Sirius, looked like a normal farmer in his disguise. Except that he had a powerful, commanding aura than any farmer she'd ever met. The rest of the crew changed clothes to look more like civilians, to avoid any unnecessary attention, although Nathan was still wearing his bandana and Eduardo his eye patch.

"Is that meant to be a rhetorical question, Captain?" Thomas asked, tilting his head slightly as Captain walked off towards a poorly fenced, run down house nearby. Moments later, he came out steering a horse with a cart attached to it.

"Captain, you're amazing!" Russell gushed, jumping on the cart with one swift move.

"Is there any doubt about that?" Nathan nodded at Captain, who gave everyone a thumbs up.

"I borrowed it in exchange for a few gold coins. Needless to say they were ecstatic."

With Mara's instructions, they set off towards the main township where the Imperial Navy quarters were. She told them about an entrance meant specifically for servants which wasn't as heavily guarded, since everyone mostly goes through the main entrance.

"You say that, but there are still a handful of guards or two where that entrance is. And only servants who work in the quarters are allowed in." Eduardo then said sarcastically, "We may as well parade ourselves through the main entrance."

Mara was surprised at Eduardo's knowledge of the servants' entrance. She opened her mouth to ask, but Russell spoke first before being cut off by Christopher.

"Oh! That's right, Eduardo's-"

"Russell, not a good idea to bring that up right now," Christopher shook his head at Russell, who quietened down.

Mara glanced from Christopher to Russell and then to Eduardo, who glared at Russell. Obviously she missed something and she had a feeling it was about more than just how Eduardo knew about the entrance.

"Let's just say Eduardo knows his way around here," Thomas whispered to her.

"Are we going to make a plan here, or keep talking about nonsense?" Eduardo's jaw tensed as he directed his glare to Thomas. Then he turned to Mara, "So, princess, what do you suggest we do? Kill a few servants and steal their identities?"

She gritted her teeth at his patronising tone of voice.

"I'll distract them. You boys then can go into the servants' quarter and grab some uniforms. I'll meet up with you there through another entry and we'll go from there," she pursed her lips at Eduardo, "That way you won't have to kill anybody."

But he won't back down. "And how do you propose you distract those guards? By taking your clothes off?" he almost snarled.

It took most of Mara's patience not to mouth off at him. She sighed heavily and calmly said, "No, I'm not like one of those tarts you associate with."

Well, she tried her best.

From the driver's seat, Captain roared with his usual laughter, clearly enjoying the banter between two of his crew members. "You kids are always fighting… But Mara's plan is pretty solid, unless anyone else has a better idea, we'll leave it up to the lady to divert the guards away from the entrance while we sneak into the Navy quarters."

"That sounds good. The less guards we have to deal with, the better." Nathan nodded at Captain's words and turned to Eduardo, "How about it?"

"Whatever," was his only reply.

Captain stopped the horse before they reached the servants' entrance and they all got off to go on foot, hiding in between the greenery around the outer walls of the Navy quarters.

There were at least five guards by the entrance and a couple of them were patrolling the area. They saw a few civilians approach the guards and were only let in after extensive questioning.

"So, how do you want to do this?" Nathan asked Mara, who was scoping the guards. They were hidden from view by a large tree and wild shrubbery, but if one of the patrolling guards came close, they could be discovered. They had to move soon.

"You're all clear with where you need to go once I distract them?" Mara narrowed her eyes at the nearest guard, who was polishing his shotgun.

"Yeah, we got it. Your description of the place was pretty straight forward," Christopher said, as he nodded with the others.

"So we'll meet you in there for sure, right?" Thomas gave her a worried look, "Will you be alright by yourself?"

"I will, you know how tough I am!" Mara grinned at Thomas. Then her expression turned serious as she squared her shoulders, "Okay, here goes nothing."

The Sirius pirates watched as Mara made her way to the guard who was polishing his gun. The guard looked up with alarm, and held his hand out as signal for her to stop, but she kept going.

She then grabbed his hand, pulled him towards her and kneed him hard where no men wished to be inflicted pain upon. She watched him drop to the ground, howling in pain while clutching his manhood.

"You're under arrest for assaulting a Navy officer!" One of the other guards yelled as they all closed in on her.

That's when Mara sprinted into the entrance, running away from the servants' door around the inside of the Navy quarters' wall. One guard helped the injured one get up and they went off in another direction to get help.

Behind their hiding spot, the six men saw the opening Mara created and headed straight to the servants' door, when they heard gun shots in the far distance.

Just as they were about to reach the door, Eduardo muttered, "That damn woman is going to get herself killed!"

He then ran off towards where Mara headed, despite the others' protests. "I'll grab her and meet you all inside," he shouted back at them.

Meanwhile, Mara barely dodged the bullets aimed towards her as she sprinted within the grounds of the Navy quarters. The familiar surroundings that she grew up with blurred as she tried to lose the guards chasing after her. She picked up her pace and weaved in between the houses, creating a bigger distance between her and the guards. Her wig stayed put as she ran and she was glad that at the very least the guards didn't recognise her.

Finally, she came to a clearing, where a grad brick and stone mansion stood. She stopped on her tracks as she realised where she was. The large windows, red bricks – the porch outside the white double front doors.

She recognised the place very well... It was her old home.

She gulped and walked towards the mansion, absorbing its magnificent structure which instantly felt... like home. She stepped on the porch and peered through the windows. On closer inspection, the place seemed different – she felt the emptiness shrouding her, replacing the sense of familiarity.

Mara lifted a hand to touch the dusty, cold glass when suddenly one of the doors opened. Her heart almost stopped at the sound of the voice she heard.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

A disconcerting feeling grew in the pit of her stomach as she turned slowly towards the voice...

...and looked into the familiar eyes of her past.

Just as they made eye contact, a bullet grazed the side of her head, smashing the glass on the window next to her.

The sound of breaking glass rang in her ears for a brief moment and the last thing she saw was a blurred figure coming towards her as she collapsed.

**End of Episode 15**


	16. Episode 16

**A/N:** Sorry for the previous chapter's cliffhanger :P But maybe some of you have guessed who our special guest is! Hope you enjoy this chapter - things are getting intense! Thank you as always for reading/reviewing/following :) Please recommend this story for anyone who has played Pirates... At the moment I'm playing Thomas' story ;)

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**Episode 16**

Leonardo caught the woman as she fell. Holding her in his arms, the sleeves of his uniform were starting to be soaked in her blood. Where her wound was, he noticed a clump of light hair tainted with red and as he lifted them to inspect the wound, he found that the golden locks were only a wig.

He took it off gently and was alarmed at the sudden realisation that he knew who this woman was.

"Mara...?" he mumbled to himself, looking at the face of the woman he used to spend a lot of his time with. The woman whose father betrayed the Imperial Navy and killed himself to avoid punishment. The woman who was wanted for the atonement of her father's betrayal and escaped her execution a few months ago.

The woman he was going to marry once upon a time.

The Navy officers who seemed to have been chasing her surrounded them and the one who shot at her said, "Captain Leonardo! This woman is under arrest for injuring an officer back at the servants' quarters!"

"Back down and send a doctor to my quarters! The rest of you go back to your post before I make you pay for shooting at her!" Leonardo barked his order at them and afraid of being punished, they retreated.

Leonardo lifted Mara into his arms and carried her as fast as he could to the Imperial Quarters.

Meanwhile, Eduardo saw the whole thing happen in the blink of an eye. The Navy Captain who was dubbed as Merciless Leonardo took off with Mara in his arms, the blood dripping from her head trailing behind them.

Cocking his gun, Eduardo aimed for the officers who were making their way back to their post. His own blood rushed to his head as he was blinded to the fact that they were totally out of range for his pistol. Before he was able to shoot, a hand grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

"Don't be so reckless, you can't hit them at this range and you know it," Nathan said as he stood next to Eduardo, watching Leonardo disappear with Mara towards the Imperial quarters. "It will only make things worse for Mara if we also get caught."

"That Leonardo... he took the damn woman," Eduardo said with gritted teeth, "I don't know what the hell she's thinking, stopping like that instead of sticking with the plan."

"He used to be her fiancé..." Nathan said, his words drifting of as if he was in deep thought.

Eduardo looked at Nathan as he remembered the woman telling them that she was going to be married to Captain Leonardo.

"Even though she's not of Moldor blood because she was adopted, she still has ties to the Imperial Navy," Nathan mumbled.

They stood there in silence as they tried thinking up a plan, when they were suddenly surrounded by Navy officers.

"Members of the Sirius pirates, you two are under arrest!"

Eduardo and Nathan were caught off guard as Navy officers suddenly surrounded them behind the bushes on the edge of the clearing, the guards who chased Mara amongst them. There were too many of them to fight back, so Eduardo and Nathan surrendered themselves. Their weapons were taken off them and their hands were tied behind their backs as they were lead to the prison cells inside the Navy quarters.

As time flew by, Captain and the rest of the crew who were now dressed as servants grew restless as they waited for Mara, Eduardo and Nathan inside the servants' quarters. They were pretending to work in the laundry room, where there weren't many other servants around, although Russell and Thomas were actually helping to fold some linen.

"I wonder if those three are okay... Eduardo and Nathan ran off after Mara out of the blue instead of sticking to the plan," Christopher said, his forehead creasing with worry.

"Doesn't matter, plans can go wrong sometimes. I'm sure they're fine. They'll meet us soon." Captain said, trying to reassure everyone, but he didn't feel too confident either.

Then they heard a couple of chamber maids talking as they walked past the laundry room.

"Lena just told me that Captain Leonardo has found Mistress Mara! But she was bleeding and everything," one said to the other.

"What?! She hasn't been seen in Moldor since she escaped her execution, everyone's thought that she's left the island already!"

"I would too if I had that amount of bounty on my head, but Lena said that the woman he was carrying was undoubtedly Mistress Mara. Although apparently it looked like a man had dressed her – she looked like a dirty commoner!"

"Poor thing, even though her father was a traitor, I don't think she should be punished for his crime."

"I hope she's not going to be executed... again."

"Speaking of executions, some officers caught two pirates by Mistress Mara's old home!"

"What a coincidence!"

The two maids trailed off the corridor and soon their discussion of Mara cannot be heard by the Sirius pirates any longer.

Captain rubbed his chin and looked at Christopher, Thomas and Russell.

"Mara's pretty famous around here, huh," Christopher pondered.

"More importantly, they said Leonardo has found her! And she's bleeding! Captain we have to do something!" Thomas said, looking extremely anxious.

"Seems like they've also captured Eduardo and Nathan... We have to do something about them too!" Russell quipped, reflecting Thomas' anxiety.

"Right then, we better start hatching a new plan – fast." Captain immediately was deep in thought as he looked at the faces of half of his crew. "Nathan and Eduardo are more than capable to handle their situation for now. After all, we've all been in prison one too many times and we've always escaped unscathed. It's safe to say Mara's our priority right now, we need to find out where Leonardo's taken her."

"The maid who saw them obviously worked in this place since word about Mara is travelling fast," Christopher said, circling his finger around the room as he referred to the place, "So she's got to be somewhere in here."

Thomas' face fell as he spoke with a defeated voice, "If he took her to his quarters, she might already be dead by now. E-Even though they were going to get married, she became a wanted criminal in his eyes."

"No, I don't think he'll execute her himself even if that's the case. Executions of wanted men and woman with bounty on their heads are usually made public, remember? By the sound of it, she must've been injured when he found her so let's hope he's just taken her to his quarters to get her checked by a doctor." Captain patted Thomas on the back to ease his worrying and let out a sigh.

"What a mess," Russell mumbled, shaking his head sadly.

"No use moping around here, we better get a move on. Let's find Mara and then get Nathan and Eduardo out of prison. We'll have to find Mara's journal another time at this stage."

"Aye, aye, Captain!"

So the Sirius pirates, minus Eduardo and Nathan set off in their servant disguises to find Mara.

Back in Leonardo's quarters, as the pirates suspected, Mara laid in his bed still unconscious. The doctor has stitched and bandaged her wound a couple of hours ago and Leonardo hasn't left her side since then.

He looked into her peaceful sleeping face, revelling on how much he'd missed her since she let for Yamato that faithful day. He was angry at her at the news of her father's betrayal – he believed that she knew about it in their entire relationship and he was quick to judge. The woman he thought he knew so well was hiding a big secret that could cost him his position as Captain, especially when he worked under her father, who had a higher ranking as Commander.

Moreover, she betrayed his trust and love.

Leonardo rubbed his face and grabbed a hold of her clammy hand. While he undressed her out of her blood soaked clothes, he saw that she was still wearing their engagement ring. Not on her finger, but on a piece of string around her neck. He still loved her, very much so. Seeing her again pushed her betrayal to the back of his mind. Seeing her injured made every grain in his being want to protect her like he used to.

"What should I do now?" he mumbled to himself. He was torn between his love for her and his diplomatic obligations to the Imperial Navy to hand her over for execution. No matter how he looked at it, she was as much a traitor as her father was.

"Mew, mew."

Leonardo's cat Myumyu jumped into the room from the open window and made its way to Mara. It rubbed its face against Mara's as if it knew who she was.

"You miss her too, huh?" Leonardo smiled faintly as he patted Myumyu, who was now curled up next to Mara's face.

He held her hand tighter and rested his head by her arm.

Nightfall came and Mara grew restless in her sleeping state. She groaned in pain a few times, causing Leonardo who'd fallen asleep next to her to wake up. The pain was getting to her and it seemed like her wound is getting infected as the bandage seeped with blood.

He left her side and rushed to the door, where he shouted at a maid nearby to fetch the doctor. Then he rushed back to her side and felt her skin was burning with fever.

Myumyu scratched at the sheets covering Mara, as if it knew that something was wrong.

She betrayed him, but Leonardo didn't want her to be executed.

He didn't want her to die this way either.

**End of Episode 16**


	17. Episode 17

**A/N:** Aahh thanks so much for following this story everyone :) I'm glad there are avid fans of PiL out there! My friends tease me about playing it, but hey, a girl can dream right? :P Enjoy this chapter and thanks for patiently waiting x

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**Episode 17**

"What?! He's gone?" A maid shouted at the last nurse who was about to go home for the night. "B-But Captain Leonardo ordered for the doctor... Wh-What should I do?"

The nurse shook her head in pity and said, "I'm sorry, I have to go home now. My husband and kids are waiting for me." She then excused herself and left, leaving the maid visibly shaken.

Christopher and Thomas happened to be in the other infirmary room next door, eavesdropping on the conversation. Christopher grabbed a stethoscope and a doctor's coat hanging from a hook. Then he signaled for Thomas to follow him to the medical office, where the maid was chewing on her fingernails nervously, looking around the room as if she could conjure a doctor by doing that.

She was a little surprised when she saw Christopher and Thomas at the door. Christopher bowed his head at the maid and said, "Good evening, miss. My assistant and I forgot to take home some files. Excuse us."

The maid watched as Christopher and Thomas pretended to look for files behind the nearest desk. "U-Umm, doctor? I know it's after hours and all... But Captain Leonardo ordered for a doctor..."

Christopher turned around and smiled at her, "We'll go."

The maid expressed her gratitude and led them to Leonardo's quarters. Christopher winked at Thomas as they walked through winding corridors until they reached tall doors which were carved with Imperial markings. She grabbed the door knocker and slammed it a couple of times.

The door creaked open and Leonardo showed himself.

"C-Captain Leonardo, sir... I brought the doctor and his assistant."

Leonardo looked at Christopher and Thomas once over and didn't hesitate to let them in.

"You may be fully aware of who this woman is, but if you both keep this matter a secret, I'll pay you a hundred gold coins each for your silence." Leonardo led them into his quarters and into the room where Mara was, lying on a large bed in the middle of a grand room.

Christopher had to restrain Thomas from running up to Mara. With Leonardo's permission, the two Sirius pirates under disguise approached Mara.

"Is her wound infected?" Leonardo asked as Christopher unwrapped the bloody bandages around her head. "Is she... going to make it?"

Christopher paused what he was doing for a second to inspect Mara. She was unconscious, but she could definitely feel the pain from the mildly infected wound swelling up. Her skin was clammy and she was in cold sweats from a fever. She wasn't doing so well, but with the proper treatment, she would be fine. However, it would take a couple of days for her to recuperate to a state well enough to move again.

"Well?" Leonardo asked, towering behind them as he watched over Mara.

"She'll make it, but she's not out of cold waters yet. We'll need to re-stitch her wound, feed her medicine and replace her bandages every few hours." Christopher replied, placing his hand on Mara's burning forehead as he waited for Leonardo's answer.

Leonardo let out a sigh of relief and adjusted his glasses. He looked less like a merciless captain and more like a tired human being who just spent long hours looking after someone important to him.

"That's good news. I'm expecting you two to look after her until she wakes up. As I'm sure you know that the presence of Mistress Maureen in my quarters is less than desirable..." Christopher and Thomas watched as Leonardo struggled to tell a lie, "But she has great bounty on her head... So I can't let her die like this. We need to have her trialled and executed in public."

Christopher looked at Thomas knowingly and forced a smile at Leonardo, "Your secret's safe with us. We'll get right to work on her, if you don't mind."

"Go right ahead, I'll leave you two at it. I'll check on her in an hour. I'll write a report on the captured Sirius pirates in the meantime." Leonardo sighed, glancing at Mara before he picked up Myumyu off the bed and headed out of his quarters.

As soon as Leonardo left, Thomas immediately grabbed Mara's hand and rested his head on her chest.

"Oh, Mara... What happened to you?" he sobbed quietly.

Christopher patted his back and looked at Mara with furrowed brows. "I think she's been grazed by a bullet. The wound isn't too deep, but it's slightly infected. That's why she's got this fever. We have to get to work on her now."

Christopher grabbed the medical tray from the bedside table left by the previous doctor and got to work on Mara's wound while Thomas held her hand tightly. Wiping the sweat on his temple, Christopher placed medical tape to keep Mara's new bandages in place.

"Looks like there's no way we can move her without making everything worse."

Thomas looked troubled at Christopher's suggestion. He shook his head and exclaimed, "But we can't just leave her here! Not with _him_!"

"Unfortunately there's nothing we can do. The journey back to the Sirius will kill her. That is, if we don't get caught while we try to move her in this state." Christopher shot Thomas an apologetic look, "I'm sorry, Thomas. The best we can do for her is to check up on her every few hours – Leonardo didn't seem to recognise us. For the time being, we should let Captain know about the situation and get Nathan and Eduardo out of prison as soon as possible."

Thomas hesitated at first, but eventually realised that Christopher was right. They left Mara in Leonardo's quarters before he got back and went to look for Captain and Russell.

Meanwhile in the prison below the Navy quarters, Eduardo and Nathan sat in their cell with trays of pathetic looking slop the officers called food untouched in front of them. They were told their trial was in less than a day. Of course, this was just a formality and they were going to be executed regardless of the outcome. This had been the case every time they were captured by the Navy.

Usually they would've been busted out by now, but they figured it would take Captain, Russell, Christopher and Thomas a while this time because they now had another crew member to worry about. There was no doubt that Mara was highly prioritised since Eduardo and Nathan could handle the situation on their own eventually if they had to.

"I wonder if they've found her yet," Nathan said slowly, breaking the silence between the two comrades.

Eduardo looked up at him as he wondered the same thing.

"I know we can escape on our own," Nathan leaned his head back against the prison wall. Then he sighed and continued, "I don't know if Mara can do the same."

Eduardo was taken aback at his words. That woman was tougher than any other women he'd ever encountered – hell, even more so than some men – but he was afraid Nathan could be right.

Nathan rubbed his bandana covered head as he stared at the ceiling, "I'm worried about her. I don't know what I'd do... I mean, what we'd do... She's been a valuable member-"

"What's gotten into you?" Eduardo didn't mean to sound so irritated, but he couldn't help himself as the words escaped him, "We managed just fine before she came along. All she's been is trouble. It's not a big loss if we lose her."

He was surprised when even he didn't fully believe his own words.

It seemed like Nathan read his mind and said dejectedly, "I hope you're right, Ed. I hope you're right."

Silence fell once more as their minds were filled with thoughts.

Suddenly they heard footsteps coming towards their cell. They don't bother standing up when the person reached their cell. It was probably just another Navy officer checking up on them.

But they thought wrong.

"I never thought I'd see you again." The person whose voice belonged to stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself to the Sirius pirates inside the cell.

The man was not ancient, but his mature age showed through grey flecks in his hair. The uniform he was wearing indicated that he was a man of status in Moldor, but not the Navy.

Nathan glanced between the man and Eduardo, whose shoulders stiffened as he glared at him though the bars.

"Get out of here. I have nothing to say to you." Eduardo said coldly, holding back the anger coursing through him.

"Please, hear me out," the man grabbed the bars of the prison cell as he pleaded with Eduardo. "I came as soon as I heard the news about Mara's return and the capture of two Sirius pirates..."

Nathan abruptly stood up and walked over to the man. He folded his arms and searched his eyes to see if he was telling the truth. "What do you know about Mara?"

The man took a while to respond as he kept staring at Eduardo with pleading eyes. Eventually he sighed and turned to Nathan, "Mistress Mara was found by Captain Leonardo and she was injured by one of the guards who seemed to have been chasing her. Everyone thought she'd disappear off Moldor after she escaped her execution... But then she was found the same time two Sirius pirates – you two – were captured within the same premises. Judging by the knowing look on your faces, I assume the Sirius pirates are related to her."

Before Nathan could answer, Eduardo grabbed him and pushed him behind. He then snarled at the man, "We don't have to tell you anything. Now get lost!"

"Eduardo, this man might know something about Mara's whereabouts. We can't just-"

"We don't need his help!" Eduardo interrupted.

"Please, Eduardo. I'm trying to make things right. This may be my only chance to redeem myself... as your father."

Nathan's mouth gaped open in shock at the man's words. The Sirius crew, except for Mara, knew about Eduardo's background, but none of them had met his infamous father before.

"You mean to say... that you're Eduardo's father, Commander Dan?" Nathan asked, despite Eduardo's burning glare.

The man paused for a moment before he spoke up, "One of those titles does not belong to me any longer and I don't know if the other one is recognised... But yes, I'm Eduardo's father."

The more he looked, the more Nathan could see the resemblance.

**End of Episode 17**


	18. Episode 18

**A/N: **Finally an update! I'm so sorry for the delay and thank you for your patience :) I've been super busy with my new job and I've been offered more hours so that means less leisurely time ie. writing time. But don't worry, I won't abandon Mara and the Sirius pirates! Enjoy this chapter and review if you want to :)

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**Episode 18**

The air in the prison cell was heavy with tension. The Sirius pirates hardly ever had any awkward moments, but this definitely took the icing.

Eduardo's father, who explained that he stepped down from his role as Navy Commander to become Governor, gripped the prison bars tightly, hoping his son would open up to him.

"Please, son... Won't you hear me out? I've been waiting for a chance to explain myself to you," Governor Dan said, the pleading in his tone of voice unmistakable. He really wanted to redeem himself, yet Eduardo won't give him the chance as he shot him down with a firm, "No."

"Alright, maybe now's not the time." Governor Dan loosened his grip on the bars with a sad look. He cleared his throat and took on a more serious tone, despite the concern in his eyes. "I do have to ask if the Sirius pirates have something to do with Mara, the daughter of the ex Navy Commander who killed himself?"

Nathan hesitated because Eduardo didn't look like he wanted to discuss anything else with his father, but the sound of Mara's name peaked his curiosity. Somehow, he felt like Governor Dan was someone they could trust, even if Eduardo might think otherwise.

"Mara... She was a stowaway in our ship at first. But now she's pretty much one of us," Nathan replied, earning a glare from Eduardo. He ignored him and kept going, "We came here looking for a journal that was left behind when she was little, possibly by her birth parents."

Governor Dan looked like he was deep in thought, nodding at the information Nathan had just provided him. After a moment, he said, "Her father did say that he would tell her before everything blew over, but it was unfortunate how he ended."

"What do you know about the accusation of her father?" Nathan asked, moving closer towards the prison bars. The look on Governor Dan's face said it all - he obviously knew something they didn't about Mara's father.

"He was a good man. He would never betray anyone, especially not the Imperial Navy which he was so proud to be a part of. However, someone has actually been leaking Navy information to pirates to heighten the already strained relationship between the two parties, but I don't believe that the person was Mara's father."

"Who could it be then? You used to be a Navy Commander, didn't you? You must know something?" Nathan locked eyes with Governor Dan, who weakly nodded.

"Yes, well... My suspicions lie with Rear Admiral Donatello, who disliked Mara's father a lot. After he supposedly killed himself, Donatello was the one who gave orders to capture Mara and then proceeded to ransack their home just outside these quarters." Governor Dan's face filled with sadness once more as he reminisced, "I stepped down from the Navy because I don't believe in the way Donatello is running the place. And also because Mara's father was a good friend of mine – I cannot possibly do my duties for the Imperial Navy when they were so quick to throw accusations at him without much investigation on the evidence found."

He then looked at Eduardo, who was still pretending that he wasn't there. "I became a Governor... so that I can make good changes in Moldor, especially for people of the Uru tribes who have become so oppressed in this country. It shouldn't be like that. When your mother was little-"

"Don't talk about my mother, you prick. Nothing's going to change the fact that you deserted us." Eduardo's cold voice rung through the prison cell – he gritted his teeth to keep from going off at the man who didn't deserve to be called a father.

"I know, son... and there isn't a day when I didn't regret the past. You have to believe that I want to change... I did love your mother-"

Eduardo snapped and lunged towards the bars, where he reached an arm out and grabbed Governor Dan's shirt. There was a loud thump as he pulled him harshly to the bars. Governor Dan didn't try to pull away or resist his grip, but merely looked away with the same sad expression still plastered on his face.

"Stop it, Ed! Think of what's important right now. We need to get out of here and find Mara and the others before we all hang!" Nathan placed a hand on Eduardo's shoulder and pulled him back until he let go of his father. Eduardo shrugged off Nathan's grip and muttered curses as he sat back down against the wall.

Governor Dan sighed again and reached into his pocket for two pieces of long rope. He then threw them into the cell, landing near Eduardo's feet.

"These are the only aids I can conceal without being too obvious. They think I'm here to question your charges and gain guilty pleads from you. Escape at the first opportunity when the guard next open this cell door to give you food."

Before he left, Governor Dan looked at Eduardo one last time and said, "I hope I do get the chance to redeem myself to you someday, son."

Eduardo and Nathan sat in their prison cells in silence as the footsteps faded in the distance.

The next day arrived – a day before the execution. In Leonardo's room in another part of the Navy quarters, Mara slowly gained consciousness. She felt a numbing pain like seared flesh on her skull and she felt like all her energy has been drained out. Her wrists felt constricted, as well as her ankles, and as she tried to lift her arms and legs, her worst fears were confirmed – they were bound by ropes tied meticulously to the bed frame.

For a moment she panicked and struggled, but the pain on her head intensified and she eventually calmed herself down. Taking deep breaths, she assessed the room she was in.

It was familiar. In fact, she _knew_ the room – every crook and cranny. In the past, she has spent her time divided between the house she shared with her father, the Navy ships and the room she was in right in that moment.

Her head was spinning as she tried to comprehend the situation she was in. She was injured, yet tied to the bed... in Leonardo's room.

Mara desperately searched her memory to figure out what happened. The last thing she remembered... was a familiar voice.

"Mew, mew."

Speaking of familiar, a small cat making an unusual noise jumped on the bed and rubbed its face on Mara's arm. Then it curled up and started purring as it licked its paws.

"Myumyu...?" Mara's eyes darted from the cat towards the writing desk on the corner of the room. A man sat on the chair, his head buried in his arms on top of the desk as he snored softly.

She held her breath as she took in the sight of one of the most familiar sights that she'd seen in her life.

Leonardo was sleeping on top of his writing desk, as she often used to find him in the past when he had stayed up after writing long reports. Back then, she used to watch him as he slept...

She looked away and pushed the memory away.

She had to find a way to get out of there and find the others. If she got injured, who knew what could've happened to them... She had no idea whether they made it or not.

Suddenly, her nose felt itchy and she looked down at Leonardo's beloved cat. Mara also loved Myumyu, because Leonardo treasured her so much, and she used to put up with her mild allergies just so she could look after the cat, telling him that she was only sneezing because of the dust. She remembered he ordered for his entire room to be cleaned after she told her that – he was baffled that she didn't stop sneezing, but she never had the heart to tell him the real reason.

Now Myumyu was still the reason her allergies kicked up. She couldn't use her hand to attend the itch and felt a big sneeze coming along. She really didn't want to Leonardo to wake up until she could muster up a plan to escape, yet she couldn't help the irritating feeling building up in her sinuses.

Myumyu yawned and stretched out next to Mara, causing bits of her fur to fly around.

Mara couldn't hold it any longer and made a loud chortled noise as she sneezed.

Leonardo stirred where he was and groaned softly. Then, much to Mara's dismay, he slowly lifted his head while rubbing his eyes. He then realised where the noise came from and abruptly stood up to walk to where she was pretending to sleep.

"...Mara?" he called out her name softly, reaching for her hand.

She immediately pulled her hand away, grunting when the rope tightened against her wrist.

"You're awake, aren't you?" He spoke in that gentle voice she used to know so well. She was caught out – no use deceiving him now.

Her eyelids fluttered open but she turned her head away from him. He grabbed her hand against her will and held it tight.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you at the mansion... But when you got hurt, it felt like my heart stopped." She could feel his eyes burning a hole through her. He then continued, "I'm so glad you came back... I've wanted to tell you-"

"I haven't got anything else to say to you, except that you're nothing to me now."

She was surprised at the coldness of her voice. Never did she imagine she would speak to him in that manner. The look on his face mirrored her surprise. His eyes glossed over with hurt behind his glasses.

Leonardo took a deep breath and kept holding onto her hand tightly, "I know you're angry and hurt... but so am I. Nevertheless, I pleaded with Rear Admiral Donatello... He came up with a proposition-"

She cut him off, "I'm not interested."

A mix of emotions churned inside Mara and she wanted nothing else but to get out of there and return to the Sirius.

Leonardo ignored her and continued, "I still love you Mara, despite what you've done. I know that you're not responsible for your father's crimes, but we can still be together... Get married… All you have to do is admit that you're guilty and you can be pardoned, after serving only three months in prison."

She used to look at him differently once upon a time. But now, what was left of the love she felt for him was burned by the anger in her heart as she gave him an incredulous, hateful look.

**End of Episode 18**


	19. Episode 19

**A/N: **Shocking revelations in this chapter (at least it is for Mara). Thanks for sticking with me even though my update speed has considerably slowed :( I appreciate all my readers 3 Btw, Mara always gets injured because... Well, she's human. She's a toughie, don't expect her to break walls with bare hands - she's not invincible :P

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**Episode 19**

A group of Navy officers came down to the prison cell where Eduardo and Nathan were kept. The two were waiting quietly for them to finally open the door and that was when they planned to escape. They only had the ropes that Governor Dan gave them, but with the countless times that they have escaped from prison around the world, they were confident their plan would work.

"Time to die, you two scumbags," one officer called out as he reached for the keys to the prison cell while the rest laughed.

Nathan and Eduardo looked at each other, ignoring the comment. The cell door was unlocked with a loud clank and they clenched the ropes, hidden from view as they readied themselves.

However, just as the officers stepped foot into the prison cell, the ones behind him grunted with pain and dropped to the ground.

"Wha-" the officer turned around and was greeted with a punch to the face by Christopher. Russell, Thomas and Captain were also there, tying up and gagging the rest of them.

Nathan and Eduardo stood up to meet the other Sirius pirates.

Captain grinned and pointed at the cell behind them, "You lads don't think that we'd let you stay cooped up in this hell hole, did you?"

"Sorry, we'd get to you two sooner, but we had to find Mara first," Christopher said, shooting them an apologetic look.

"We figured you would prioritise the weakest member– we were going to bust out of here anyway just as you guys came." Eduardo walked out and started dragging the Navy officers into the cell, followed by Russell and Thomas.

Nathan asked Christopher, "Did you find her?"

"Aye, Thomas and I did..." Christopher's face was overcome with worry.

"What happened to her?" Nathan took a step forward.

"Mara's injured – badly," Thomas replied for Christopher with a sad look, "She's still unconscious... We thought we'd get you guys out of here and think up of a plan."

Eduardo dropped the officer he was dragging and looked at Thomas. He said to him quietly, "How badly hurt is she?"

"We think she was grazed by a bullet – she has a deep wound on the side of her head. She also had a fever, but the medicine should be taking effect by now – Thomas and I pretended to be doctors so that we could check up on her. Even so, it seems like Leonardo hasn't left her side." Christopher massaged his temple, looking slightly frustrated.

"By the way, someone recognised us as the Sirius pirates even though we were dressed like servants. The man was called Governor Dan," Captain said, crossing his arms in thought. Eduardo's eyes darkened as he looked away.

Captain chuckled and continued, "He said he knew we were wanted men, but also that the Sirius pirates didn't cause serious harm to people who don't deserve it, so he let us go and even told us where you two were. He also said... that he was your father?"

"That bastard! He's got a hidden agenda, I'm sure of it!" Eduardo said, fuming.

"Calm down, Eduardo. The execution is in a few hours and we don't have much time until other Navy officer come to investigate those buffoons there." Captain said, gesturing towards the tied up officers who were all wriggling around the prison floor.

"And if we don't make a plan, Mara will be executed too," Thomas said, reminding everyone that they still had to find the last crew member.

They were silent for a minute as they tried to figure out a plan. Finally, Captain spoke up.

"Thomas, you need to cause a distraction and alert everyone that the Sirius pirates have escaped. That'll launch a search party and Leonardo will surely be called to help. Then we'll get Mara and get out of here."

"There's only a need for one of us to get her. We'll attract attention if all of us go into Leonardo's room." Eduardo seemed to be forcing the next few words out, "My f- that man – he mentioned that Rear Admiral Donatello took a dislike to Mara's father and ransacked their belongings. The journal might be in his quarters."

"Then one of us will save Mara. The rest of us will use the distraction and try finding the journal in Donatello's quarters," Captain nodded at the crew, "So who wants to go fetch Mara?"

Before the others could speak out, Eduardo walked past the Sirius crew and said, "I'll go."

So the Sirius pirates followed Eduardo out of the prison cells and headed their separate ways to kill two birds with one stone.

Christopher was right – Leonardo hadn't left Mara's side since he found her. He was currently watching her as she pretended to be asleep. She had refused Leonardo's offer without a second thought and he kept trying to convince her that it was the right thing to do.

The man who used to be her fiancé... She didn't know who he was anymore. How can he force her to admit a crime she – and her father – did not commit?

"Mara... I love you," he kept saying over and over again. But Mara couldn't bring herself to believe his words. The pain on her head still throbbed, but she just needed to free herself from the ropes that bind her limbs and she could escape.

She felt Leonardo squeeze her hand. His touch felt repulsive and she flinched.

"I know you can hear me," he said softly, "I really hope you'll change your mind. I don't think I can bear seeing you hang, my love."

Mara opened her eyes and gave him a look of disgust.

"Please don't look at me like that," Leonardo said with sad eyes. Mara turned her head away as he tried to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. He sighed and leaned back on his chair.

"Please... Mara..." He dropped his face into his palms and shook his head.

Suddenly, the door opened and a Navy officer barged into the room.

"Captain Leonardo, the Sirius pirates have escaped! Rear Admiral Donatello needs you to start a search party!"

Leonardo sighed again and turned to Mara, "I'll be back. You have a couple of hours to change your mind. I do hope you will, Mara."

He then ran out of the room with the officer and the door slammed shut.

Mara breathed a sigh of relief. She then looked around to see if there was anything that she could use to cut the ropes.

Just then, the door clicked open again and in an instant, Eduardo was there freeing her from the ropes.

"Eduardo...?" Mara said weakly, not believing her eyes.

"Get up – We need to go now." Eduardo didn't skip a beat as he lifted Mara off the bed. The sudden movement made her dizzy – she'd been lying down for so long. Just as her knees buckled, she felt strong arms wrap around her waist.

"Stupid woman... How the hell do you manage to always get yourself injured like this," Eduardo muttered as he guided her towards the door, slowly at first.

They looked around and saw no one around, so they headed down the corridor towards the servants' quarters.

Mara huffed to keep up with Eduardo. She felt much better, but she was still in no state to be walking about. Eduardo had put her arm around his shoulder to support her as they walked and she tried hard to focus on the path ahead.

"Are you okay?" Eduardo asked her quietly.

"...Don't worry about me. Are the others okay?"

"Yea, they're looking for your journal as we speak. We'll meet up with them soon."

Mara felt touched. She didn't care about the journal anymore – she was just glad that everyone was okay, yet they were still looking for it.

"You don't think we went through all this to leave with nothing, did you?" Eduardo gave her a faint smile and pulled her closer to him to support her.

"T-Thank you..."

"Show your gratitude later and let's focus on getting out of here. You already caused us enough trouble by being captured by your lover."

And just like that, Eduardo was back to being himself.

"He's not-" Mara started to defend herself, but a sharp pain on her head stopped her. Eduardo stopped them, but she shook her head and reassured him she was fine.

They reached the kitchen and were met with the others. Mara's eyes lit up with happiness and lurched forward to hug Thomas, who was equally happy to see her.

"Mara-" Thomas started, but her knees buckled again from weakness. Luckily, he caught her as Eduardo steadied her from behind.

"Stupid woman," Eduardo muttered again. Mara ignored him and hugged Thomas tightly, burying her face in his shirt.

"I'm glad you're okay, Mara." Nathan appeared next to them and stroked her back. She looked up and gave him a faint smile. She was really glad to see them all.

"You had us all worried!" Russell exclaimed, playfully tapping her on the shoulder.

"Welcome back, kid." Captain grinned at her, then his expression turned serious again, "We better get out of here now before we get caught. Russell, go grab our clothes from where we hid them and let's get going!"

Captain, Christopher, Russell and Thomas changed to their own clothes quickly and they were all out of the Navy quarters in no time.

Unfortunately, the horse and carriage that they left a few days ago were long gone. They had no choice but to head back to the other side of the island by foot until they find another horse and cart.

Mara clung to Thomas as they walked, trailing behind the others who kept watch for the Navy. She didn't know how long she could keep going but she definitely didn't want to be more of a burden than she already was.

They weaved through the trees and hid behind shrubbery as they moved further away from the Navy quarters.

"Everybody down!" Captain whispered fiercely as the sound of two galloping horses with a large carriage in tow came near.

As the rider came closer, Russell jumped out of the bushes and withdrew his two swords, intending to dismantle the rider.

Just as he was about to jump up and strike, Captain stopped him, yelling, "Stand down, Russell! It's Governor Dan!"

Governor Dan eased up the horses and jumped off. He looked at the Sirius pirates as they came out of hiding and smiled, "I heard that you escaped and thought you might need a way to get across Moldor, especially with an injured lady."

Mara looked at the man her father had been proud to call a good friend.

"Uncle Dan...?"

"Mara... I'm so glad that you're safe!" Governor Dan walked over and hugged her. "And I'm glad that my son is one of the people who were looking after you."

"Go to hell!" Eduardo yelled, withdrawing his gun. Captain and Christopher held him back and forced him to calm down.

"Your...son?"

A look of confusion reflected on Mara's face as her gaze landed on Eduardo and she suddenly saw how much he looked like her uncle Dan.

**End of Episode 19**


	20. Episode 20

**A/N: **I'm sooo sorry for the delay in updating. I was offered full time job and have been so busy that I barely have time to cook dinner after work! But once I settle down, I'll be able to write more & faster. Thanks for your patience :') I hope you enjoy this chapter! x

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**Episode 20**

The Sirius pirates were cramped in the carriage that Governor Dan brought for them, but they couldn't complain as it shielded them from the public.

"I don't see why he has to come with us," Eduardo snapped at Captain, who returned his gaze with a stern look.

"We wouldn't be stopped if it's Uncle Dan that's driving. The Navy is probably turning Moldor inside out trying to look for us right now," Mara shot back, feeling irritated at Eduardo's ungratefulness.

She has found out since that her uncle Dan was Eduardo's father – the man said to have abandoned him and his mother. She found that hard to believe as uncle Dan was one of the most caring man she'd ever met. He was always trying to improve the situation of the Uru people and her father had been helping him to gain a higher status in the Moldor Empire to achieve this. Although Uncle Dan rarely spoke of his family, when he did he always spoke highly of his wife and child, saying that one day he will return to them once he has made changes in Moldor.

"I should've known that your traitor father would know him," Eduardo said coldly, daring her to talk back.

Mara gritted her teeth and glared at him. Luckily Thomas, who was sitting next to her, was holding her so that she wouldn't take Eduardo's bait.

Nathan sighed at Eduardo, "Why do you always have to goad her like that? She's one of us now, whether you like it or not."

Captain also let out a breath and shook his head. "Now, now. Stop arguing. There are more important things at hand," He then reached into a pocket and took out a leather bound book. "... like this journal."

Mara's eyes flew open as Captain handed her the journal. She took it with trembling hands. "Y-You guys found it... I can't believe it..."

"Better believe it! We went through hell and back getting it for you," Thomas grinned, resting his head on her shoulder. She put her arms around him and looked at everyone.

"I know you all did... Thank you... to everyone," she looked at them all with gratefulness. "You've let me into your family and went through great lengths to help me. I really am in your debt."

"Don't think anything of it... You've been an invaluable member of this family now and we'd go through greater lengths if you need us." Captain smiled at her, echoing the thoughts of the rest of his crew member, except perhaps Eduardo who avoided his eyes.

Captain then looked like he just remembered something else and reached into his pocket again, "Ah, we also found this letter in Donatello's quarters. There are things written in there which is not the greatest news..."

Mara opened the letter – it was written by pirate captain Cecil to Donatello. Her hands trembled harder than it did before as her eyes darted to the writing on the paper.

In the letter, Cecil expressed his gratitude to Donatello on their alliance. He congratulated Donatello on making Mara's father a scapegoat, making his murder look like suicide and even involving his daughter to silence the truth forever.

"I'll have to have a word with Cecil and let the other pirate captains know of his treachery," Captain muttered and frowned, sharing Mara's condemnation of the revelations in the letter.

Cecil goes on to thank Donatello for yet another collaboration to find a map which was supposedly for a treasure of great value, as indicated on the journal which was found in the late Commander's estate.

Mara found it hard to swallow as she tried taking in all the information from the letter. Her eyes well up with tears, but she blinked them away as the carriage came to a halt.

"We've arrived," Governor Dan said, opening the door.

They got down and made their way to the hidden wharf behind one of the more secluded Uru villages. Eduardo walked ahead of them all, purposefully avoiding his father who was trailing behind him next to Captain.

Mara walked alongside Thomas, who kept asking if she was alright since her complexion paled considerably since reading the letter.

They reached the wharf, where the two dinghies they tied up a few days ago were still there, bobbing up and down with the waves.

Governor Dan put a hand on Eduardo's shoulder before he was able to get away.

"Let me go," Eduardo stiffened.

"Son, can you hear me out before you go please? I can't let you leave thinking I deserted you and your mo-"

"I've heard enough from you! What other excuses have you got up your sleeves?!" Eduardo shouted, turning to face his father.

Silence fell as the Sirius pirates froze at Eduardo's outburst.

Mara took a deep breath and walked towards the two men. She handed the letter to Dan and hugged him briefly before turning to Eduardo.

She said to him in a quiet voice, "Your father always had good things to say about you. He's worked very hard to lift the oppression of the Uru people – all for your mother's sake. He's all that you've got left... I suggest you hear him out before you turn out like me... Somebody who has nothing left to remind her of her family but an old journal."

She then walked off towards the wharf and Thomas caught up with her to help her get onto a dinghy. The others nodded and patted Eduardo on the back as they followed Mara and Thomas, leaving him and his father standing alone.

"Son, I know the way I left was hurtful to you, especially when your mother got sick. I know you didn't understand back then, but the reason why I left was so that I can fulfil her wish for her people to prosper with freedom within the Moldor Empire like they used to."

Eduardo's mind told him to ignore his father and follow the others. But deep down in his heart, he felt the genuineness of his father's words. Looking back, his mother always told him that his father would come back, but back then he thought that she was fooled by him.

"I wrote you and your mother letters," Dan took out a stack of letters from his coat and reluctantly offered them to Eduardo, who stared at him cautiously before accepting them. "My brother Kai intercepted these letters so that they wouldn't reach you both. He was also responsible for the downfall of the Uru people in Moldor by abusing his power as the Minister. When I found out – I exposed him with Mara's father's help and stepped down from being a Commander to become a Governor. It was extremely difficult to change the Uru situation, yet it's getting better bit by bit. But then your mother had passed away and you already joined the Sirius pirates. Even so, I'm still trying my best today... All for your sake."

Eduardo's hands trembled just as Mara's did moments ago as he opened up one of the letters from his father addressed to his late mother.

Dan was speaking the truth and although Eduardo didn't want to believe it, he now realised that his hatred for him had been mislead all this time.

"Your mother would be proud of the man you've become, Eduardo. I know I am," Governor Dan extended his hand out to Eduardo.

Slowly taking off his eye patch, Eduardo revealed a different coloured eye to the one that wasn't covered. His eyes showed his bloodline – half Moldor and half Uru. For the first time in his life, he wasn't only proud of being his mother's son, he was also accepting his father now. He looked his father in the eyes and grabbed his hand.

His father slowly pulled him in for a hug which he hadn't felt in a long time.

"I'm sorry... for not believing you," Eduardo said quietly.

"I don't blame you. I'm sorry too, son. I hope that we can keep in contact from now on." They pulled away, but Dan kept a hold of his son's hand as he continued, "Especially now that Mara is part of your crew. She's a good woman and her father had the most noble of intentions. He was a good friend of mine and I know that he'd be happy that she's in good hands."

"Speaking of Mara... That letter she handed you. Captain found it in Donatello's room."

Governor Dan unfolded the letter Mara gave him and shook his head as he scanned it.

"Poor Mara... I can't imagine what she must be going through. She may have been adopted, but her father loved her dearly. I wasn't able to help him much... Unfortunately, this letter isn't going to be enough to arrest Donatello. But if I can't make it up to your mother or Mara's father, I'll surely make it up to you and Mara!" Dan smiled at his son, "You better get going now before they patrol this area... I'll be sure to keep looking for more evidence and send you gull mail regularly."

Eduardo said, "I'll be waiting for it," as he gave his father one last hug before joining the rest of the Sirius crew.

When he arrived by the dinghies, Captain made the order for them to leave for the Sirius and Eduardo jumped on the dinghy where Mara was leaning against Thomas with her eyes closed.

She straightened up and her eyes fluttered open, the steely colour catching the last of the sun rays. She may not be of Imperial blood, but somehow she exuded the strength that of one. Whoever her parents were and no matter what her true bloodline was, she was still born and raised in Moldor.

Mara looked at Eduardo and gave him a faint smile, "I'm glad you were able to work things out with your father."

Eduardo was surprised – was his face that readable?

"I hope someday you can find it in your heart to accept me as part of the Sirius... I bear no resentment towards you, so I'll wait for as long as it takes."

Before he could reply, Mara closed her eyes again, the corner of her lips still formed a smile. She looked so peaceful...Except that he knew she was far from it.

This woman... She was really something. The specks of dried blood that seeped through the bandage around her head made her look like some sort of warrior against the backdrop of the sunset. She really was a warrior, after everything she'd been through.

She may not fit a pirate's description, but she was definitely destined to be on the Sirius.

**End of Episode 20**


	21. Episode 21

**A/N: **Enjoy my lovelies! :)

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**Episode 21**

The Sirius was anchored at a small, uninhabited island that the pirates came across a long time ago, whenever they needed to fix up minor damages or recuperate. It was in a secluded area, nowhere near any nations or other islands and it couldn't be found in most maps. However, the Sirius pirates never stayed there longer than they needed to.

This time around, they were only staying long enough until they fixed some minor damages. Eduardo managed to get them out of the edge of the Moldor territorial waters, but they were caught by a Navy ship that just came back from another nation. It was easy enough to evade, but the ship didn't escape totally unharmed.

"The amount of times we've had to fix these railings is insane!" Russell complained as the men gathered on the deck to inspect where the damages were concentrated. Broken wood was scattered all over, but it wouldn't take them too long to fix up everything.

"This wouldn't take long to fix... We should be able to set sail in the morning." Nathan picked up a large chunk of wood that used to be part of the railings on the deck and turned to Russell, "The sooner we get to it, the sooner I can fix us some food."

At the thought of Nathan's food, Russell's eyes shone with excitement. He eagerly followed Nathan to collect the materials they needed.

"I'll start sweeping up this mess then... Thomas, can you help me please?" Christopher smiled at Thomas, who replied, "Aye, I'll grab the brooms."

Morgan was left standing with Eduardo, who turned to him with a serious look on his face.

"Where to from here, Captain?" Eduardo asked Morgan, who crinkled his forehead in thought.

He gestured for Eduardo to follow him. They went into the navigation room, where Morgan plopped down on a chair and rested his feet on top of the table. "I have to inform the other captain leaders of Cecil's treachery. So the next step is to organise a Captain's Meeting, which should be interesting as Cecil is the leader of the North seas."

Eduardo nodded in agreement and leaned back against his seat.

Captain continued, "I'll have to get Cecil to confess, so I'll have to borrow that letter he wrote to Donatello. Do you still have that?"

"Yea, it's right here." Eduardo took out the letter out of his pocket and handed it to Captain. His father gave the letter back to him, promising that he would try finding more evidence to uncover Donatello and Cecil's unlawful partnership. He wanted to clear Mara's father's name once and for all.

Eduardo could only imagine how Mara felt about all this and wondered how she was coping. They hadn't seen her out and about since they left Moldor – she wasn't eating properly and all she did was sleep. In the meantime, Thomas moved to the warehouse temporarily until Mara recovered. The infection was gone and the bullet-graze wound was healing rather well, but they were getting worried about the state of her mind.

As if reading his mind, Morgan cleared his throat and said, "I'm worried about Mara – she doesn't seem to have much fight left in her nowadays..."

Eduardo didn't say anything, but Morgan knew that he was just as worried.

"We'll wait until she's ready... and we'll talk to her about what she wants to do. She's very much involved now. The balance of the Navy and pirates has been disturbed thanks to Donatello and Cecil – and she's smack bang in the middle of it all." Morgan frowned and then looked at Eduardo, "We have to protect her no matter what happens... You know that, right?"

Morgan looked at Eduardo expectantly, as if he wanted him to say something in particular. This took Eduardo by surprise, but he just nodded quietly instead of asking what exactly he was trying to imply.

"If I didn't know any better..." Morgan began, giving Eduardo a knowing look which somehow bothered the hell out of him.

"Whatever it is you're going to say, Captain... don't." Eduardo glared at him and stalked out of the navigation room, Morgan's laughter ringing in his ears before he slammed the door shut.

The damage on the ship was almost fixed by sundown, with Eduardo and Captain also joining in to help. They would've been able to set sail that night if they kept going, but after a few hours of working, Nathan had to stop to prepare lunch. Now they all had to stop again because he was preparing dinner. Since he was the one with the most shipwright skills, the others had no choice but to stop too.

The kitchen was warm from tonight's menu – traditional beef stew with chunky vegetables and freshly baked bread rolls. Nathan was busy stirring the stew and keeping an eye on the bread rolls when someone entered the kitchen.

"Anything I can help you with?"

He turned around and saw Mara. Instinctively, he reached for her as if she needed support to stand up.

"What are you doing up and about? You should be resting!" He almost shouted at her, concern laced in his voice.

He was right, she should still be resting. There were dark circles under her eyes and her cheeks looked sunken – she looked like she was going to shrink into nothing.

Mara had been bedridden for a few days and that was starting to drive her mad. She couldn't control the thoughts and nightmares that entered her mind – it wasn't that she wanted time to herself, but she was so overwhelmed by everything that happened so far that she couldn't even hold a proper conversation whenever one of them would bring in meals or check in on her.

The entire ordeal in Moldor was a nightmare. They were supposed to find the journal and get out – but that plan really didn't work out. She knew that there was a possibility that she would see Leonardo, but she never thought that she would end up being his captive.

"...Mara, I worry about you."

Nathan's voice brought her back to reality. Lately she'd been enveloped in her thoughts so much that she felt out of touch with everything else.

She gave Nathan a faint smile and walked towards the pot of beef stew boiling away on the stove top.

Then she took a big whiff of the delicious smell and said, "This smells great. I can't wait to taste it."

Nathan gave her a look – she knew he meant it when he said he worried. Everyone was, but she didn't want them to. They've done so much for her since she came on board – she didn't want to cause them anymore problems.

"Don't worry about me, I'm tough cookie." Mara averted her gaze and stirred the stew, feeling his eyes on her.

Nathan turned the stove off and pulled her aside without saying anything. All that could be heard was the dim bubbling noise of the stew that had just come off the boil.

He put his arms on her shoulder and looked her squarely in the eyes, "Are you sure you're feeling alright? And I'm not just talking about your wound."

She blinked a few times and sighed quietly. It was obvious that she wasn't okay, but she shook it off and replied, "I'm still overwhelmed and anxious... and there's a thousand questions running through my mind – But there's no use in moping around. That won't solve anything. I have to carry on, otherwise I'm just going to be a nuisance to everyone."

"I know we all thought you were a nuisance at first... Hell, you annoyed the shit out of me when you first got on board – but these past few weeks, you've become someone important to m-" Nathan paused and went a shade of red. He let go of her shoulders and adjusted his bandana to mask his embarrassment.

"I mean... You've become an important member of the crew," he corrected himself after clearing his throat, "This is coming from everyone... even Eduardo."

Mara giggled a little and gave him a high wattage smile for someone who wasn't feeling one hundred percent, "I knew he didn't mind me deep down inside... He just doesn't show it very well!"

Something about what she'd said caught Nathan's attention as his face turned serious. Then he asked her something rather direct, "Do you like Eduardo?"

She didn't think for too long before replying, "Well, we've had our differences – I seem to irritate him for some reason and I get too worked up over it. But in saying that, he has saved my bacon a few times now... So I guess... Yea, I like him. I hope we can get along better in the future."

Mara smiled again, but Nathan just looked at her with a blank expression. He muttered something along the lines of "That's not what I meant by liking him, but nevermind," and walked over to the stove.

She gave him a look of confusion and was about to ask him to reiterate, but he was already preparing the finished meal into serving dishes, so she decided to let it go and reminded herself to ask him later instead.

She also had to remind herself to tell everyone about the contents of the journal...

...That it was a series of letters written to her by her birth parents... disclosing something that made her head spin by just thinking about it.

The unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach came back and she pushed it down as she quietly followed Nathan to the dining room, carrying the bread. All of that can wait until after dinner.

**End of Episode 21**


	22. Episode 22

**A/N**: Good news! New chapter yay! Thanks for waiting so patiently :) I'm so glad that you're enjoying this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Bad news... I'll be going on holiday for two weeks starting from the 19th - I'll try writing during then, I may not update until I get back. I apologise in advanced and I'll try write as much as I can in the next week. In the meantime, thank you all for your support as always. Enjoy this chapter! (P.s. I'm playing Thomas' sequel at the moment... The MC is surprisingly not as annoying in Thomas' story!) x

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**Episode 22**

The Sirius pirates had an enjoyable dinner that night – they were all glad that Mara was starting to feel a lot better. Morgan suggested they drink to toast her recovery, but was advised against it by Christopher.

"Save the drinking until Mara's fully recovered... She needs the rest and with the high volume of noise you lot usually make when drunk, even the heavens can't get a good night's sleep!" Christopher said with a stern look at Morgan, who pouted and crossed his arms in protest.

"We promise we'll be quiet! I'm sure Mara won't mind-" Russell began, but was cut off by Nathan.

"Christopher's right. You're the loudest out of all of us when we're drinking, so what makes you think you can stay quiet?"

Russell looked like a child scorned and frowned as he grumbled.

On her usual seat in between Thomas and Christopher, Mara couldn't help the grin forming on her lips. She'd missed the usual banter between the pirates. In that moment, she couldn't feel more at home than she did on the Sirius.

She thanked the stars that she came across them – who knew what would've happened to her if she got on board of some other ship. Her father may not have approved if he was still alive, but the Sirius pirates really were good people, so she knew that he'd be glad that she's with them, wherever he is now.

She looked around the room and her grin was equally met by Captain, Russell, Nathan and Christopher. Next to her, Thomas yawned and leaned his head on her shoulder.

She ruffled his hair as he snuggled into her, wrapping her arms around him.

"I'm a little jealous at Thomas right now... Who knew Mara is so maternal?" Morgan chuckled, raising a glass of dessert wine which he couldn't resist despite Christopher's advice.

"Does Captain want a cuddle too?" Mara teased, making Morgan laugh harder.

"Eduardo looks like he needs a cuddle." Russell pointed at Eduardo, who glared at him and rolled his eyes.

"Bite me," he replied.

Normally Mara would get worked up by Eduardo's attitude, but now she knew better than to retort. She smiled at him instead, as if to offer a truce.

Although he didn't smile back, she thought she saw him eyeballing her before losing his gaze into the content of his cup.

She was getting there. Hopefully they could get along soon, just as she hoped.

Mara's eyes met with Nathan, who was watching her quietly. He wasn't frowning, but there seem to be a disapproving look in his eyes – along with something else she couldn't quite comprehend.

They stared at each other for a while, but Nathan averted his gaze when Thomas yawned loudly and said, "You're all just jealous because I've got Mara to cuddle!"

Morgan roared with laughter again and downed his drink in one go. Then he cleared his throat and glanced at everyone at the table, his expression grew serious as if he just remembered something important.

"Are you okay, Captain?" Christopher asked and all eyes went to Morgan.

"Ah, yes. Before I forget... I've called for a Captain's meeting with the four pirate leaders," Morgan stated. The room was quiet as they listened. He continued, "As you all know, Cecil has been exchanging information with Donatello. This will surely disrupt the balance in which pirates and the Navy exist and this has to be stopped. I will decide Cecil's fate, but first I have to get him to confess in front of the other pirate leaders before I can punish him. As the Pirate King, I have to make sure his treachery stops soon and with Eduardo's father's help, we'll also get Donatello eventually."

Everything Morgan spoke of was true – except that he mentioned he was the Pirate King.

"Um... Captain...? You're a Pirate King?" Mara's eyebrows furrowed in confusion – she knew that he had the authority on board of the Sirius and the bounty on his head was the largest out of them all. But she never really thought about why the Sirius pirates were the most wanted pirates – during the time she spent in the Navy with her father, she just thought that they were just the worst criminals. Now that she was a part of the Sirius, she knew that wasn't true anymore...

"Could it be that Captain's status as Pirate King was the reason why you all are the most wanted pirates?"

Morgan grinned at her epiphany.

"That much is obvious," Eduardo muttered, shooting her a smirk. "And you call yourself a Sirius pirate."

Well, at least he was back to being himself, Mara thought.

"Captain's the Pirate King, which means that he is in charge of looking after the seas and he dictates the rules which the four leaders of the North, South, East and West seas and the pirates under them have to obey," Russell informed Mara, looking pleased as he shared his knowledge.

"So... are you royalty or something, Captain?" she asked.

"No, nothing like that. Thomas can tell you – it's a long story," Morgan replied, smiling at her. On her shoulder still, Thomas nodded his head.

"Anyway, as I was saying, a Captain's meeting will be held in two days. So that's where we're heading to tomorrow, as soon as the ship's fully fixed. How are we doing on that, Nathan?"

Nathan nodded and said, "We should be able to set sail mid-morning if we start working again at dawn."

Russell let out a groan and complained that it was too early to wake up.

"It's good to wake up early in the morning sometimes – breathe in some fresh air," Christopher reassured him.

"Nothing like manual labour first thing in the morning!" Thomas grinned, snuggling even closer to Mara.

Nathan abruptly stood up and pointed at Thomas then Russell. "You two, come with me. There are potatoes to peel before you go to sleep tonight."

Thomas pouted a little while Russell groaned some more at having to do chores before bed, but as Nathan glared intensely at them, they eventually got up and headed towards the door

"See you later, Mara," Thomas whispered before following Russell towards the kitchen.

Nathan, who was still in the room, turned to Mara, "Goodnight, princess. See you in the morning."

Mara smiled at him and said good night. She heard Captain chuckling as she watched Nathan's retreating back.

"What's so funny, Cap?" Mara asked, but before she got an answer, Eduardo also abruptly stood up and started walking towards the door, muttering something under his breath.

"Um, Eduar-" she started, but hesitated when he turned around and gave her the cold look she was getting accustomed to. "Nothing..." she mumbled.

"You're lucky everyone's got a soft spot for you," he grumbled and left the room, but Mara didn't catch what he said, so she just stayed quiet.

"Don't mind him as usual." Christopher's voice snapped her back to reality.

"Yeah, he's got the softest spot for y-" Morgan spoke, but Christopher coughed hard next to Mara so that she wasn't able to hear what he said.

"So, have you read the content of that journal yet?" Christopher asked after he excused himself for the coughing fit. Morgan just shrugged in a carefree abandonment and drank what's left of the dessert wine straight from the bottle, with a sly smile on his face.

Mara turned to Christopher and bit her bottom lip. She was meant to tell everyone about the journal tonight, but she's completely forgotten in the midst of Nathan's delicious dinner and the usual lively company of the Sirius pirates.

She nodded and slowly reached into her pocket. Opening the slightly tattered journal to a particular page, she slid it across the table so that the men could read it.

"My parents... My birth parents – they spoke of a treasure."

At the sound of 'treasure' and as he read the lines on the page with Christopher, Morgan's ears were focused on what Mara was saying. He was definitely paying attention.

"They didn't say what the treasure was, but only that it would disclose information of my heritage," she continued. "For some reason, the map to the treasure is scattered all over the world in five pieces. So my guess is that Donatello and Cecil would try and get their hands on those map pieces in order to get to the treasure."

"It's not unusual for people to preserve family heirlooms – but locking it in a treasure box and burying it with the map scattered all over the place... It must be of some worth." Christopher crossed his arms and leaned back after he finished reading the content of the journal. He rubbed his chin in thought and looked at Morgan, who nodded in agreement.

"The Doc's right. Cecil only ever goes looking for treasure that are highly worth his time – that's saying something about this treasure your birth parents speak of..." Morgan looked at Mara squarely in the eyes and said in all seriousness, "I will speak to Cecil about this matter in the Captain's meeting. It may not go down well when I tell everyone he's a traitor, but that's to be expected. What matters... is whether you want to seek out this treasure that's rightfully yours."

Mara hadn't even given looking for the treasure a thought. She was curious about it and no doubt of her birth parents, but she was slightly afraid of what she'd find out. She was comfortable knowing that she was the daughter of a Navy Commander and a Yamato woman – even though that image was shattered now.

What if her birth parents were murderers or thieves or stole the treasure from some nation? Or worse – what if they were innocent people caught up in a conspiracy, just like her late adoptive father was?

Then again, she was part of the Sirius pirates now and just like Eduardo with his conflicting lineage, she shouldn't let things like that bother her.

"It's up to you, Mara. What ever you decide, we're all here for you," Christopher said in a soothing voice when he saw her conflicted expression.

Morgan opened up another bottle of dessert wine which neither Mara nor Christopher knew where he got it from – it seemed to have materialised out of thin air, like most of the alcohol he consumed did.

"Of course, you could go on living your life without ever knowing what the treasure beholds and that's perfectly fine." Morgan took a large sip of the wine and then gave her the familiar teasing grin. "But, my dear Mara, what's the fun in that?'

As she met the gaze of the two eldest members of the Sirius, she couldn't help but smile.

"You're right. Even if it just turns out to be a measly family photo album, I won't know if I don't see it for myself. Moreover, I don't want Donatello getting his dirty paws on something my parents left for me, no matter what it contains," she matched the two men's grins with her own as she spoke. "And besides, what kind of pirate would I be if I said no to a treasure hunt?"

Morgan roared with laughter. "You sure are one of us now!" he bellowed.

Mara's smile stayed on her face, even as she fell asleep that night.

**End of Episode 22**


	23. Episode 23

**A/N: **I'm trying to crank out more writing before I leave for holiday so you guys get a good dose of A Sirius Kind of Life before I go away on holiday for two weeks! Shit is stirring in Moldor... =P

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**Episode 23**

News of what had happened in the Navy quarters involving certain most wanted pirates spread like wildfire across Moldor. Security tightened considerably and anyone who had connections to piracy was questioned. Despite Governor Dan's best efforts, the Uru people were the most suspected – thanks to Donatello who let the notion that it was the servants who let the Sirius pirates slip into the quarters to destroy the Navy from the inside.

That day, Governor Dan sat amongst many Navy officials and soldiers as a symposium was held by Donatello in front of the King of Moldor himself, in the Great Hall of the palace.

"My King and fellow Navy men – we've had a serious breach of protocol here in Moldor just a couple of days ago when the Sirius pirates penetrated our Navy quarters in yet another highly criminal attempt to destroy us." Donatello's voice echoed throughout the Great Hall as everyone was silently listening to him.

"They have bested us so many times in the past and they have done so again because we weren't as equipped as we thought we were. The men who were guarding the servant quarters' entrance were defeated without so much a fight and what does that say about us as the Imperial Navy? ...A disgrace, that's what!" Donatello made a flick with his hands and scrunched up his face in anger which Dan thought was put on for the sake of riling everyone up regarding the situation with the Sirius pirates. The sad thing was that everyone was buying what he said, because they didn't know that it was actually Donatello who was administering classified Navy information to pirates that actually had shady intent, unlike the Sirius pirates.

The traitorous Rear Admiral of the Navy continued, "They've injured so many of our men to near death and dared to ransack my quarters."

There was a loud murmur in the hall as everyone was convinced that the Sirius pirates were indeed better off with a noose around their necks in the first instance.

"What's more – the daughter of the late, former Commander who we all know was a traitor – the girl called Mara was involved with these despicable pirates. No doubt that she is one of them now and therefore she can be classified as a pirate too. She is now an enemy and the bounty on her head is increased, and the same with the rest of those scumbags."

The Great Hall now echoed with loud voices calling out for the capture – and death – of the Sirius pirates. All of them, including Mara.

The King of Moldor stood up and walked to Donatello, resting a hand on his shoulder with a look in his face that resembled something like pride. If it wasn't pride, then he agreed with what Donatello had said.

"Rear Admiral Donatello is right – we have to take control of this situation fast before past events repeat itself. These pirates need to be put in their rightful place – in the centre of town with nooses around their necks so that they may atone for their crimes by death! From now on, we shall concentrate our efforts in capturing them – and the girl called Mara. No mercy – let's bring them back to Moldor and silence them forever!"

Shouts of agreement rattled the room and Dan saw a look of satisfaction on Donatello's face. The bastard would be pleased with himself.

He'd gotten away with murder... and so much more. But not for long, Dan thought to himself.

He stood up and exited the hall quietly.

"Son, I hope you and the Sirius pirates can put an end to this madness. For everyone's sake," Dan muttered to himself as he sent a seagull mail, heading straight for the Sirius.

The seagull reached the ship the day after Mara spoke to Morgan and Christopher about the revelation of the journal. They were on their way to Gerome Island where the Captain's meeting was going to be held, when Russell spotted the messenger bird from his lookout post.

"Thomas, seagull mail incoming!" he shouted at the deck, where Thomas and Mara were cleaning.

Thomas handed Mara his mop and did his best seagull call to direct the bird to him. He had an uncanny talent when it came to calling messenger birds.

The large sea bird swooped down on the deck and finally landed on Thomas' arm, receiving affectionate pats as the mail was untied from its foot.

Mara wiped a drop of sweat on her forehead and brushed her hair out of her face with her fingers. She must remember to cut off some of the length of her hair off soon.

"Oh, this mail..." Thomas inspected the cursive writing which spelled out someone's name. He turned towards Eduardo, who was steering the Sirius and called out to him.

Eduardo looked like he had a funny taste in his mouth as he walked over to where Thomas and Mara were. He gave Mara a once over and practically snatched the letter off Thomas' hand.

Mara furrowed her brows, biting her tongue to stop her from telling him to take his manners out of his ass. She shook her head instead and handed Thomas back his broom.

They continued to sweep the deck under the blistering sun while Eduardo read the mail. After a while, he muttered about going to see the Captain and walked off to do so.

Thomas and Mara looked at each other, shrugged and went to return the brooms as they were finished with cleaning the deck for the day.

"Whew, it's a lovely day, but it's so hot!" Thomas exclaimed, rolling up his sleeves further up his arms. "What else do we need to do today?"

Mara dabbed her temples with the front of her loose top and replied, "We've got some laundry to do, since Russell spilled wine all over his bed sheets the other night."

"Oh, yeah. Russell's always doing that sort of stuff," Thomas chuckled as he and Mara collected the stained sheets from the laundry room and took it out to the deck to wash.

Once they were done, they took the sheets to the washing line and starting hanging them to dry. As they were doing so, Mara was reminded of something that was mentioned last night during dinner.

"So, what's all this business about Captain being the Pirate King?" Mara carefully pegged the corner of the bed sheet which was still dripping wet while Thomas pegged other linen that the other crew members had forgotten.

"Oh, well Captain is mostly humble about that title, but he's actually a very important and powerful authority!" Thomas sounded rather proud of this fact and he had a look of admiration as he continued talking to Mara.

"Captain's job as the Pirate King is to keep the balance of the seas – to make sure pirates and the Navy don't start a full blown war. I guess he's keeping the peace, as hard as that is to picture since the Navy and pirates have been enemies for centuries. But Captain's a reputable pirate who won't cause harm to anyone if there isn't the need to... Unless they deserved it, of course."

Mara nodded with understanding. Although Captain was a womanizing, alcohol loving pirate, he was also compassionate and clever – a great leader respected by everyone on the Sirius.

"I wonder what Cecil would do when Captain tells him that he knows about his affiliation with Donatello," Thomas wondered out loud as he passed Mara the last peg to clip on the line.

The Sirius was travelling fast, and it wouldn't be too long until they reach Pirate Island. Who knew what would happen during the meeting – Cecil might become repentant and stop any more contact with Donatello.

Or he may rebel and try to start a war. That was more probable than the first.

"I don't know, Thomas. I hope he'll mend his ways, but I highly doubt it," Mara replied to Thomas after some thought.

Thomas nodded in agreement with furrowed brows.

They put the laundry baskets back and came back out to the deck to finally relax. Eduardo was back at the steering wheel and Mara wanted to ask what the letter was about, but he looked a little bit grumpy and deep in thought, so she decided against it.

"I'll get us some cold water – I'm feeling parched," she told Thomas, who was lying down on the freshly cleaned floor of the deck, enjoying the sunshine. He seemed happy to be baking under the sun, however Mara felt a little dizzy and put it down to dehydration so she walked towards the kitchen.

Drops of sweat rolled down her forehead and she felt the sun's rays on the top of her head, as if it was penetrating her skull and warming up her brain.

Before she knew it, her vision blurred erratically before her legs gave way.

Someone's arms wrapped around her waist to support her, but she didn't know who as she saw darkness and lost consciousness.

"An angel has fallen into my arms!"

Mara was conscious again within a couple of minutes, but she felt weak as she was cradled in someone's arms. Her vision still hadn't returned fully so she couldn't make out who it was yet. His voice sounded familiar though...

"Alan, let go of her!"

That was Thomas' voice.

"I'm not holding her hostage, you greenhorn – can't you see I'm holding her tenderly in my arms?" came the reply.

So it was Alan who caught her. He was always showing up at uncanny moments.

She grunted a weak protest, but Alan only held her tighter and stroked her head much to her dismay.

"Let go of her before I blow your tiny brains out!" she heard Eduardo shout.

Thomas followed suit, "Release Mara and go back to the Rika!"

"Watch how you speak to me, eyepatch! She'll wake up in my arms and she'll realise that I'm her hero... Then she'll join me as the lady of the Rika ship and- Hey!"

She'd finally regained enough strength to push Alan away and used her elbows to crawl away, dragging the lower half of her body like a zombie.

She felt Eduardo lift her up just as her vision blurred again – she only knew it was him because of the way he smelt. Like a combination of the ink which he used to draw maps and fresh linen. She liked that smell, it reminded her of her father – who wasn't her real father but whom she regarded as father anyway in her heart.

He would worry about her if he saw her like this. She really needed to look after herself better – it seemed like she was forever spending time being treated for medical conditions since the day she escaped from hanging in Moldor.

She closed her eyes and fell back into the darkness.

**End of Episode 23**


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